Browsing by Subject "Notary"
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Item Granum Bonum: Grain Distribution and the Emergence of Popular Institutions in Medieval Genoa(2019-12) Manke, JohnThis dissertation uncovers the role that state debt and grain distribution played in the sociopolitical world of late medieval Genoa. The Genoese became the first polity to experiment with state debt in the twelfth century when wealthy members of the community exchanged money to build a fleet for revenue shares from the salt tax. Over the next two hundred years, this agreement evolved into a pillar of the Genoese state, and investment in the state debt was a means of maintaining political authority among a small circle of elites. Building on archival research in the Archivio di Stato in Genoa, published legal documents, and medieval legal philosophy, this dissertation demonstrates how state debt was embedded in Genoese society as a means of formalizing the authority of the elites. Building on this point and using the records of an administrative apparatus created to purchase grain for the city, the dissertation demonstrates how a fourteenth-century popular uprising in Genoa, led by Simone Boccanegra and his successors, reshaped the state debt in a long-term effort to reconstitute the political establishment and demonstrate the stability of their regime. Past assessments of state debt in medieval Italy are often testaments to technical writing. They talk about fiscal figures, the rise and fall of prices, but they fail to recognize that medieval recordkeepers had different ideas of what information was relevant to be included. Furthermore, these facts and figures are divorced from the social context. This dissertation connects the development of state debt to the social world that produced it demonstrates the way grain and grain distribution became a key component of one of the most important of the popular regimes that swept across late medieval Italy. These experiments in state debt allowed for the establishment of the Bank of St. George in 1407, which brings this dissertation to a close. This institution finally settled the organization of Genoa’s finances, many historians have suggested that this was the first state bank and a clear antecedent of the Bank of England. This dissertation adds nuance to the roots of the modern financial system.Item Negotiating marriage: artisan women in fifteenth-century Florentine society(2009-07) Bender, TovahSocial ties determined status, community membership, and even identity for all fifteenth-century Florentines. The marriage formation process was one of the most important opportunities to form social ties, not only between spouses but also with those friends, neighbors, and patrons who served as witnesses, guardians, and providers of dowries. This dissertation examines the process of marriage formation among Florentine artisans, defined as members of the minor guilds and their families in the late 1420s. The study relies on 1425-1429 notarial records of marriages, betrothals, and dowry receipts, and on the 1427 Florentine Catasto. The narrow chronological range makes it possible to cross-reference the two documents, thereby increasing the amount of information available for the couples and their families. It also centers the study on a period of transition in Florence. At this time, Florentine artisans represented a sizable and politically active community. However, the Florentine republic was edging closer and closer to an oligarchy, and, increasingly, artisans were politically marginalized in favor of progressively more powerful elite factions. Artisans' social ties--including those created during marriage--became ever more important for a continued sense of political power. From these sources, this dissertation makes three major points: First, although numerous studies of elite marriage exist for Florence and their results have been held to be representative of all Florentine society, marriage formation differed in significant ways across the social spectrum. Second, marriage formation provided artisans with an excellent opportunity to form and cement social bonds among themselves. This study also highlights the central role of artisans in both tying together those at different social levels and providing an avenue for social mobility, however limited. A focus on marriage also demonstrates the importance of women, particularly non-elite women, in Florentine social networks. Third, by demonstrating the variety of marriage patterns in Florence, and through comparison with the ever more diverse picture of marriage in England, this dissertation argues that the established contrast between marriage patterns in the two regions is increasingly untenable.