Notes on Houses and Lifestyles of Milanese Luxury Merchants. From the Reports of an Adultery Trial (1446-1447)

I verbali degli interrogatori seguiti alla scoperta di un adulterio (1446-47) ci danno l’opportunità di «entrare in casa» di un mercante milanese del lusso. Le grandi dimensioni degli spazi del palazzo, la compresenza di stanze residenziali e di officine, la presenza anche notturna di lavoratori sono caratteristiche comuni anche ad altre case vicine. Considerando questa particolare categoria di mercanti, ci soffermiamo sulle loro relazioni con i principi e le corti, sulla loro clientela, sulle loro scelte di investimento e di consumo.The judicial depositions gathered after an adultery give us the opportunity of «enter the house» of a milanese merchant of luxury goods. The large dimension of the spaces, the cohabitation of residential rooms and laboratories, the presence of workers during the night, are common here and in other milanese houses. Focusing the attention on this category of businessmen, we consider their relations with princes and courts, their principal clients, their choices of investment and consumption

Chapter La signoria di Arena in Oltrepò. I Beccaria e la forza della comunità (secoli XIII-XVI)

The lordship of the Beccaria, a branch of the great family from Pavia, on Arena Po, was established at the end of the thirteenth century, taking advantage of both the financial difficulties of the small municipality and the power of the family in Pavia. It was meant to last for centuries. Managed in a consortium form by various Beccaria exponents, it encountered difficulties also in relation to the political events of the duchy. Various documents are examined to investigate the nature, modalities and reality of the relations between the lords and the land in the final centuries of the Middle Ages, especially from the fiscal, economic and agricultural point of view

Pro impetrandis pecuniis. Nove liste di prestatori milanesi del 1451

Nine lists of 220 potential lenders of money compiled in 1451 by the agents of Francesco Sforza, the new duke of Milan, are edited here, together with short bio graphical notes. An introduction explains the possible criteria of the choice. The first criterion was wealth, since many of them belonged to the medium-high level of the Milanese merchants and businessmen’s class. Another criterion was related to politics: most of the lenders were deeply compromised with the experience of the Repubblica Ambrosiana (1447-1450). Therefore, the forced loans may also be considered a measure provided by the Duchy against internal political dissidence. Keywords: Ducato di Milano; XV secolo; mercanti e affaristi milanesi; Repubblica Ambrosiana. Duchy of Milan; 15th century; milanese merchants and businessmen; Repubblica Ambrosiana. DOI 10.17464/978886774273

Chapter Regina della Scala e Bernabò Visconti. Progetti di affermazione dinastica nel dominio visconteo

The figure of Regina della Scala, Bernabò Visconti’s wife, is here reconsidered on the basis of available chronicles and documents. About her political agency, Regina was often involved by her husband in a “joint dominion” over some cities. Her strong and determined action in promoting her male sons to the detriment of her nephew and son-in-law Gian Galeazzo Visconti is emphasized. The Scaligera received from her husband, at various times, a complex of localities, funds and jurisdictions very scattered in the territory of the Visconti domain, from which she drew income and wealth. Rather than forming her own domain, Regina cultivate the project of achieving autonomy and resources to promote her and Bernabò Visconti's descendants

Permessi di costruire lungo il “fosso di Milano” (1450-1499)

In the 15th century Milan there were numerous concessions to build soste along the Milan ditch (the internal canals today covered) for the loading and unloading of goods or the sale of materials, but there were also many licenses to private individuals to take advantage of building spaces along the banks of the ancient city wall, and in the citadel and darsena of Porta Ticinese, including the turrets and parts of the wall. If the more ancient concessions mainly concern the construction of soste, then the licenses to expand houses, gardens and to add new buildings multiplied. Not only were the banks privatized, but also the bed of the ditch and the numerous turrets of the ancient circuit were alienated in a definitive way. The applicants validate their requests by denouncing the widespread degradation of these spaces, and the loss of the original defensive function of the walls and towers. Also, they stressed that the private advantage would be redundant on the ornament of the city. A more accurate examination of the ducal licenses illustrates a widespread passage from the public to the private of pieces of urban land, often small and interstitial, but numerous, as a sign of the progressive abandonment of ancient fortifications, walls, turrets, banks and waters. The licenses also shows that the beneficiaries, with few exceptions, were not merchants and craftsmen, but men and sometime women close to the ducal court: officials, ducal magistrates, servants of the court, favorites, soldiers and foremen; in short, people who hung out on the ducal entourage and who claimed their proximity to the dukes to obtain these and other types of favor.È noto che nella Milano del Quattrocento furono date numerose concessioni di costruire soste lungo il fosso di Milano (i navigli interni oggi interrati) per il carico e scarico merci o la vendita di materiali. Vogliamo qui documentare varie licenze a privati di usufruire di spazi edificabili lungo le rive del fossato e presso l’antica cittadella e la darsena di porta Ticinese, comprese le torrette e vari brani dell’antico muro cittadino, non solo per costruire degli impianti artigianali e commerciali, ma per ampliare abitazioni, orti e giardini e aggiungere manufatti nuovi a edifici già esistenti. Si privatizzavano le rive, parti del terraggio, l’alveo del fosso e le numerose torrette del circuito antico, con donazioni in forma definitiva ed ereditaria. I richiedenti avvaloravano le loro richieste denunciando il degrado diffuso degli spazi e la perdita dell’originaria funzione difensiva degli antichi manufatti e osservando che il vantaggio privato si sarebbe abbinato all’ornamento della città. La rilettura sistematica di una documentazione in parte già nota, mette in luce il passaggio dal pubblico al privato di vari lotti di terreno, in genere piccoli e interstiziali, ma numerosi, segno del progressivo abbandono di antiche fortificazioni, mura, torrette, rive e acque. Un’altra evidenza delle lettere patenti è che solo pochi beneficiari erano mercanti e artigiani, ma piuttosto uomini e donne vicini alla corte ducale: officiali, magistrati ducali, servitori e servitrici della corte, favoriti dei principi, soldati e capisquadra, persone insomma che bazzicavano l’entourage ducale e che facevano valere la loro prossimità ai duchi per ottenere questi e altri tipi di favore

Il feudo-azienda di Cicco Simonetta e le nuove signorie di Lomellina (XV secolo)

The lordship of Cicco Simonetta on Sartirana and other localities in Lomellina deserve the definition of fief-estate, given the importance of the entrepreneurial, agrarian, and hydraulic activities which Simonetta realized. In this study, this fief is compared with other new lordships implanted by the Visconti and Sforza in the same region, equally active in entrepreneurial attitudes and features. On the contrary, many of the older lineages were less able to interpret the great possibilities of change in Lombard agricolture, and suffered an inexorable decline.La signoria di Cicco Simonetta su Sartirana e su altre località lomelline si può definire un feudo-azienda, data l’importanza delle attività imprenditoriali, agrarie e idrauliche di cui il signore fu ideatore e protagonista. In questo studio, il feudo simonettiano viene confrontato con altre signorie nuove impiantate dai Visconti e dagli Sforza nella stessa regione, altrettanto attive dal punto di vista imprenditoriale. Al contrario, le stirpi più antiche furono meno capaci di interpretare le grandi possibilità di cambiamento dell’agricoltura lombarda, e si avviarono a un’inesorabile decadenza

Note su abitazioni e stili di vita dei mercanti milanesi del lusso. Dai verbali di un processo per adulterio (1446-1447)

The judicial depositions gathered after an adultery give us the opportunity of «enter the house» of a milanese merchant of luxury goods. The large dimension of the spaces, the cohabitation of residential rooms and laboratories, the presence of workers during the night, are common here and in other milanese houses. Focusing the attention on this category of businessmen, we consider their relations with princes and courts, their principal clients, their choices of investment and consumption. Keywords: Ducato di Milano (XV secolo), Mercato del lusso, Abitazioni dei mercanti di Milano; Duchy of Milan (15th century), Luxury market, Merchants houses in Mila