Chicago, Newberry Library, VAULT Case MS 27 .1
Pepo d’Antonio di Lando Degli Albizzi
Memorial Book of Pepo degli Albizzi
Florence, between 1340 and 1387 ca.
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Between 1340 and 1387, Pepo di Lando d’Antonio degli Albizzi recorded in a ledger information about his business affairs, accounts of events, personal and family matters (including details of his three weddings), a list of his legitimate children, and a copy of his father’s will. The manuscript opens with an invocation to God, the Virgin Mary, and all saints, followed by the date, 1339 (effective 1340), and an ownership record. On the same page, Pepo indexed the organization of the book into three parts: cc.1-22 matters of mercantia and records of credits; cc.22-32 matters of mercantia and records of debts (ironically, this fascicle is missing); from cc.32 on additional personal memoriae not related to his business. Pepo’s indexing testifies to writing that was both extemporaneous–the records of daily matters–and calculated. Even the subdivisions only citing mercantile records are interspersed with family news. The organization of page c.35v functions as an exemplary: an interrupted transcription of a corporation contract, a brief paragraph legitimizing the paternity of an illegitimate daughter, and a list of his close family members who died in 1348 by the Black Death.
One of the most powerful families of premodern Florence, the Albizzi were active members of the wool guild (Arte della Lana), most prosperous between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Though his father Antonio was one of the most influential family members both economically and politically, Pepo also held public office at least once as Prior in 1359.
Newberry Library VAULT Case MS folio J 035 .714, f.124v
Pepo’s book, still bound in its original dark pink leather with functioning buckles and vellum pages, remains the oldest extant and complete document of the Albizzi family. The general page layout of the manuscript is typical of account books of the time (see c.11r), with business transactions crossed out when paid.
Mercantesca dal tracciato pesante, schiacciata.
Da notare: la e ‘raddoppiata’ (1r, r. 3: bene); la g con il tratto inferiore poco sviluppato e aperto (1r, r. 4: guadagnio); la A in forma di alfa (11r, r. 10: Anne);
la G ad alambicco (35v, r. 3 par. 3: Giovanni); il legamento ch che presenta ancora il tratto inferiore dell’asta della h (11r, r. 3: che); l’uso di segni abbreviativi superflui,
ma anche di abbreviazioni tecniche per monete e misure molto precise.
- Maddalena Signorini
