Details
STATUTES OF COMO of 1335, with additions to 1444, in Latin, MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER
[Como, first half of the 15th century]
Chancery 2° (281 x 200mm). 245 leaves (of 252, without 7 of the final 12 blanks), COMPLETE: [1-724 812] a-b24 c24 (c13-24 blank, lacking c15-18, 22-24), horizontal catchwords centered in lower margin on last versos, leaves in the first half of quires 1-7 signed 1-12 (quire 8: 1-6) with roman or arabic numerals in lower margin on the versos, quires a-c signed in the same location with the letter and roman numerals i-xii, 17th-century ink pagination 1-492, quires a-c also with 17th-century ink foliation 1-60 (cancelled), single columns of up to 45 lines, unruled, justification: 220 x 140, written in cursive scripts by a number of contemporary hands in brown or black ink (copious contemporary and later marginalia including notes by the original copyists, often cropped, several pages cropped at top touching first lines of text, ca. 5 leaves strengthened at margins, water stains in upper and lower margins, large ink stain on pp.455-456, occasional unobtrusive spots or stains). 17th-century mottled sheep, spine gilt (bumped, rubbed, joints split, spine largely perished), modern black morocco box.
PROVENANCE:
1. Antonio Mazzuco, notary in Como (second half of the 16th century): note, p.479: 'Ad vsum Antonij Mazuchi et amicorum comodo'.
2. Obliterated name on front flyleaf.
3. Niccolò Cosogna (Nicolaus Cossonius), jurisconsult of Dongo, on Lake Como (fl. 1700): fragment of letter to him laid in, notes in his hand on front flyleaf, on pp.479-480, and passim in text.
CONTENTS:
Major divisions of the text are: Statuta officii Maleficiorum (pp.1-141); Statuta officii potestatis (pp.142-199); In civilibus statutis Come (pp.200-293); Titulus causarum civilium abbreviatarum (pp.294-302); further rubrics concerning civil law, without a general title (pp.303-315); Statuta et reformationes notariorum mercatorum Cumarum (pp.316-359); miscellaneous proclamations and documents of the Dukes of Milan, dated 1338-1444 (pp.361-479).
The statutes of Como, first codified in 1281, and again in 1296, were subjected to a major reform in 1335 when Azzo Visconti assumed control of the city. The laws of 1335, which remained in effect until 1458, were recorded in an official manuscript known as the 'volumen magnum', which survives as MS 50 of the Archivio Storico Civico di Como, and they have been published from that source (Statuti di Como del 1335. Volumen magnum, ed. G. Manganelli, Como 1936-45). These statutes constitute one of the most extensive and important collections of comunal law from 14th-century Italy.
The present manuscript offers an early witness to the text of the 'volumen magnum', which it cites, as well as to the subsequent development of the law in Como. Although its major sections correspond to those of the 'volumen magnum', they are copied in a different order. Moreover, each section is accompanied by numerous additions, with dates from to 1353-1442, many of which are not included in the published text of the 'volumen magnum'. These additions include new statutes promulgated after 1335, additions and corrections to existing statutes, and new provisions of various sorts. A number of the additions, and the entire last section of the manuscript (pp.361-479) are proclamations and documents of the Dukes of Milan, as well as supplications addressed to them. Since the Visconti archives were largely destroyed during the short-lived Ambrosian Republic of 1447-50, these unpublished texts preserve evidence concerning Visconti rule that is not easily obtained from other sources. The 'Statuta mercatorum', issued in Milan in 1353 and applied to Como by a decree of 1356, do not figure in the 'volumen magnum' of Como and are apparently unpublished. They are of substantial interest for reconstructing the economic life of two cities at the center of an active mercantile trade in the 14th century.
The present manuscript of the statutes of Como was copied and extensively annotated over a period of time by a number of hands. It was presumably completed between 1444, the date of the last document included, and 1458, when the statutes of Como were again reformed, this time by Francesco Sforza. The nature of the manuscript suggests that it was a working compilation produced, perhaps, by a family of notaries closely involved in the legal life of Como. Careful study of its contents and the stages of its production will undoubtedly yield new insights into the development of law and government in Como during the century after 1335.
[Como, first half of the 15th century]
Chancery 2° (281 x 200mm). 245 leaves (of 252, without 7 of the final 12 blanks), COMPLETE: [1-724 812] a-b24 c24 (c13-24 blank, lacking c15-18, 22-24), horizontal catchwords centered in lower margin on last versos, leaves in the first half of quires 1-7 signed 1-12 (quire 8: 1-6) with roman or arabic numerals in lower margin on the versos, quires a-c signed in the same location with the letter and roman numerals i-xii, 17th-century ink pagination 1-492, quires a-c also with 17th-century ink foliation 1-60 (cancelled), single columns of up to 45 lines, unruled, justification: 220 x 140, written in cursive scripts by a number of contemporary hands in brown or black ink (copious contemporary and later marginalia including notes by the original copyists, often cropped, several pages cropped at top touching first lines of text, ca. 5 leaves strengthened at margins, water stains in upper and lower margins, large ink stain on pp.455-456, occasional unobtrusive spots or stains). 17th-century mottled sheep, spine gilt (bumped, rubbed, joints split, spine largely perished), modern black morocco box.
PROVENANCE:
1. Antonio Mazzuco, notary in Como (second half of the 16th century): note, p.479: 'Ad vsum Antonij Mazuchi et amicorum comodo'.
2. Obliterated name on front flyleaf.
3. Niccolò Cosogna (Nicolaus Cossonius), jurisconsult of Dongo, on Lake Como (fl. 1700): fragment of letter to him laid in, notes in his hand on front flyleaf, on pp.479-480, and passim in text.
CONTENTS:
Major divisions of the text are: Statuta officii Maleficiorum (pp.1-141); Statuta officii potestatis (pp.142-199); In civilibus statutis Come (pp.200-293); Titulus causarum civilium abbreviatarum (pp.294-302); further rubrics concerning civil law, without a general title (pp.303-315); Statuta et reformationes notariorum mercatorum Cumarum (pp.316-359); miscellaneous proclamations and documents of the Dukes of Milan, dated 1338-1444 (pp.361-479).
The statutes of Como, first codified in 1281, and again in 1296, were subjected to a major reform in 1335 when Azzo Visconti assumed control of the city. The laws of 1335, which remained in effect until 1458, were recorded in an official manuscript known as the 'volumen magnum', which survives as MS 50 of the Archivio Storico Civico di Como, and they have been published from that source (Statuti di Como del 1335. Volumen magnum, ed. G. Manganelli, Como 1936-45). These statutes constitute one of the most extensive and important collections of comunal law from 14th-century Italy.
The present manuscript offers an early witness to the text of the 'volumen magnum', which it cites, as well as to the subsequent development of the law in Como. Although its major sections correspond to those of the 'volumen magnum', they are copied in a different order. Moreover, each section is accompanied by numerous additions, with dates from to 1353-1442, many of which are not included in the published text of the 'volumen magnum'. These additions include new statutes promulgated after 1335, additions and corrections to existing statutes, and new provisions of various sorts. A number of the additions, and the entire last section of the manuscript (pp.361-479) are proclamations and documents of the Dukes of Milan, as well as supplications addressed to them. Since the Visconti archives were largely destroyed during the short-lived Ambrosian Republic of 1447-50, these unpublished texts preserve evidence concerning Visconti rule that is not easily obtained from other sources. The 'Statuta mercatorum', issued in Milan in 1353 and applied to Como by a decree of 1356, do not figure in the 'volumen magnum' of Como and are apparently unpublished. They are of substantial interest for reconstructing the economic life of two cities at the center of an active mercantile trade in the 14th century.
The present manuscript of the statutes of Como was copied and extensively annotated over a period of time by a number of hands. It was presumably completed between 1444, the date of the last document included, and 1458, when the statutes of Como were again reformed, this time by Francesco Sforza. The nature of the manuscript suggests that it was a working compilation produced, perhaps, by a family of notaries closely involved in the legal life of Como. Careful study of its contents and the stages of its production will undoubtedly yield new insights into the development of law and government in Como during the century after 1335.