Versión inglesa artículo M. Ciambotti a poner vínculo

Accounting History and Socio-Political History: The Malatesta Code series
(1405-1421)
Massimo Ciambotti
ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to examine the relationship existing between the historic study of
accounting entries and the investigation of historical facts of a social and political nature emerging
from such entries. The primary documentation which may be found among the accounting registers
may contribute, often in a determinant manner, to completing the description and interpretation of
historical facts, lending increased objectivity and precision to historical research per se. The
Accounting historian find him/herself investigating and explaining not only the economic
significance that emerges from the gathering and the analysis of documents (whether accountingrelated or not), but also the connection between this meaning and the other topics of a historical
character present in economic history, in art history, in social and political events of any State or
territorial area, in the relationship between families and single individuals as well as strictly
personal ones, in geographical changes, in architecture, etc.
The richness of accounting books, documents and administrative acts, present in the Italian
archives and libraries, going back to the medieval times (from the 13th century), support this type of
research, from which it’s possible to obtain a large amount of information concerning, for example:
the political power and the power relations between cities or the diverse dominions, the citizens and
other organism; the judicial, administrative and tax codes of the States and public entities; the
organization of the structures of Communes and States; the armed companies, the military
campaigns, the nature of the dominations of States over single territories; the development of
commercial activities and maritime journeys.
The paper refers particularly to some accounting registers from the beginning of the 15th
century that belong to the 113 Malatesta Code series present in the Historical Archives of the
central Italian city of Fano. These accounting books was produced by the administration of
Malatasta family, during the course of the Pandolfo III Malatesti dominion over the cities of Brescia
and Bergamo, between the period 1405-1421. Their importance, recognized in 2002 by Carlo
Antinori, is enormous for all the historians: for those that are studying Accounting History there is
the opportunity to search into the formal aspects and the accounting methodology of the registers,
drawn up with a Tabular Lombard-type method (with two sections “Dare” or Debits and “Avere” or
Credits, on either side of the same page), typical layout of the accounting systems in the 14th -15th
centuries; and for those that are studying Socio-Political History there is the opportunity to obtain a
large amount of information concerning: the general structure of the Chancellery of Pandolfo III
Malatesti; the political model enacted in the administration over the cities of Brescia, Bergamo,
Lecco and their surrounding territory; the organizational model of the complex bureaucratic
apparatus of the chancellery and treasury; the military organizational structure (and relative high
expenses); and generally the court life and the identity of the artists, artisans, medical doctor and
others present on the payrolls of the noble Lord they served.
In the final part of the paper we are reported two specific examples of the contribution that
accounting entries may make to historic investigations in the socio-political field: the considerable
loan received by Pandolfo from the Republic of Venice in September 1409 and the conquest (or
better, purchase) of the city of Bergamo in June 1408
1
KEY WORDS:
Accounting History, Medieval Book-keeping Method, Political History studies.
1.
The relationship existing between accounting language, business language, the
environment, and history
One of the factors that characterises human beings is, without a doubt, their ability to remember
the events that in some way affected them, and render those experiences available to those wishing
to take advantage of them. This mechanism allows others to obtain useful information about a
specific socio-economic context, i.e. information on the fact that these events occurred, as well as
the way they happened. Together with activities of other types (political, religious, artistic, etc.)
humans carry out economic activities (production and consumption of economic goods) to satisfy
their needs, in the pursuit of many different goals of varying types and degrees of importance.
Since Xenophon’s “Economics”, presumably written between 394 and 371 B.C.1 , the art of
administering or “governing one’s home”, as the Greek etymology of the term “economics”
suggests2 , has always been considered important.
The act of “remembering” the events of an economic nature came about with the rise of
accounting language, which is one of the expressions of that linguistic capacity that undoubtedly
separates humans from other living creatures3 .
Indeed, the fundamental characteristic of human behaviour consists in the possibility of using
signs, in particular linguistic signs, words and numbers with which people express themselves4 . In
this sense, language is an ordered system of interconnected signs through which human intelligence
attempts to understand reality and capture it in its totality. When the research phenomenon being
investigated changes, the application of human reasoning implies the need for a different linguistic
approach, given that the method itself is imposed by the subject about which one is aiming to learn.
In other words, the sign-cognitive methodology used presumes the use of a system of signs in line
with the phenomenon being investigated; the aforementioned may change both in the spatial sense
but also in temporal terms. This is true given that it must be considered that the same phenomenon
1
Senofonte, Economico, Rizzoli, 1991. This is considered the most ancient business-economic “treatise” in
human history.
2
The original meaning of the word “economic” was based on the fusion of two Greek terms: “oikos” (meaning
“home”) e “nomos” ( meaning “norm”, “regulation” or “governing”). Therefore the significance refers to the “ordering
of one’s home”, that is to the collection of laws concerning the governance of the home, in the widest sense, and
including all the activities of a productive or commercial nature that could have been carried out next to domestic
activities in the strict sense. This is the same unitary and integrated concept of man (as a person, besides as a merchant
or entrepreneur) which, many centuries after Xenophone, at the end of Medieval times, will be taken up again by
authors such as Benedetto Cotrugli (1416-1469). In his book “Libro dell’arte di mercatura” (written in 1458, but only
printed in 1573 in Venice) he speaks about the “economic life and governance of the home and of the family…which is
no less important than that of political life” (pp. 228-229). See: G. Falcetta, “Lo sviluppo integrale dell’imprenditore tra
libertà e responsabilità. La figura del mercante nell’opera di Benedetto Cotrugli”, in Lo sviluppo integrale delle aziende,
Giuffrè, Milan, 2007, pp. 169-197.
3
The linguistic ability of man, according to the Aristotelean definition, means that the live human being
possesses “logos”, i.e the ability, through language, to express oneself and communicate one’s thoughts and, therefore,
to know. Languages are essentially “methods” (etymologically deriving from the Greek term “metà-odon”, that is
“through the path”), i.e. the paths natural and necessary for human reason to penetrate the structure and functioning of
any phenomenon of reality, and capture the connections and interdependencies that characterise it in its internal
conditions and in relation to external phenomena. See: M. Ciambotti, L’influenza dei fattori culturali sul controllo
manageriale, Lint, Trieste, 2001, pp. 16 and following.
4
Signs define any object or event (present), used to recall another object or event (which is not present or the
presence, or non presence, of which makes not difference). See: M. Ciambotti, previous work cited, p. 16.
2
undergoes “a continual evolution over time parallel to the constant change taking place in the
context in which it is manifested”5 . When the object of study or knowledge in question is a business
phenomenon, that is, the sum of economic events in a company, the sign-linguistic system that
emerges, i.e. business language, responds to the need to learn about - individually and in their
various interdependencies – the structural and technical aspects about the conduction of such
events, the behavioural aspects and those of the results thereof. Between the “quality” or (property)
of the business phenomenon under examination6 should also be added those qualities that present
themselves for consideration, in order to be analysed in terms of objective measurement methods
(measurable qualities). Quantification represents one of the processes of conversion of the quality
of a phenomenon being investigated into signs, and the measurement process itself may be
considered a quantitative and/or quantitative/monetary sign expressed in numerical terms.
Numerical representation is the form of language which, together with the spoken word, is the
most common way of symbolic or sign-based representation, through which given objects or
definite events are associated with numbers, so that the properties and the characteristics (quality)
of the phenomenon being investigated are represented in terms of numeric properties and rendered
comparable in time and spatial terms (compared to the same common characteristics present in
other phenomena)7 .
In a way similar to spoken language, accounting language may see its contents changed in
relation to the evolution that the company organism and the context to which it refers undergo over
time, both in temporal and spatial (i.e. geographical) terms. In that sense it is possible to speak
about correlation and evolution taking place simultaneously with the business phenomenon being
investigated, the contextual conditions and language (business and accounting languages).
From a historic point of view, numerous studies have examined such a correlation
highlighting how – with changes in the socio-economic scenes in which firms exist -, the structural,
functional and even the conceptual characteristics of firms themselves have changed over time. This
change coincides with changes in the relative accounting languages themselves, in both their formal
as well as substantial contents.
The History of Accounting began precisely in order to study the afore-mentioned correlation8 ,
going beyond the confines of single nationalities (that is the single national cultures) for at least two
reasons:
5
E. Perrone, Il linguaggio internazionale dei bilanci d’impresa , Cedam, Padova, 1992, pp. 19-20. The truth of
signs depends precisely on the adequacy of the method used to learn about the essence of that object that one intends to
represent and understand with such signs. In that case one is drawn to cite the ancient adage of the philosopher
Scholastic, according to whom the truth is the way in which understanding is adjusted to reality (“veritas consistit in
adaequatione intellectus et rei”). See: M. Ciambotti, previous work cited, p. 17.
6
The semiotic approach states that it is necessary to “convert” the characteristics of the company phenomenon
being investigated into corresponding “signs” that are “quality indicators” thereof (that is of the significance or the
connotation thereof). As a result, the knowledge of any real company event may occur only if the structural and
functional characters (or the qualities) are understood or relayed, through this sign-based conversion. This is a circulartype sign-based procedure with which humans translate the qualities of the company events (economic facts) into
accounting signs or indicators (accounting facts) and reconvert the latter into the qualities of the occurrences that the
signs wish to represent. See: N. Abbagnano, Dizionario di Filosofia, Utet, Turin, 1977, p. 718 and the research of C.S.
Peirce, cited in M. Ciambotti, previous work, p. 18.
7
Such quantitative symbolism may be viewed in a triple dimension: a semantic one (connected with the capacity
to represent the company phenomenon in terms of its investment/finance dynamics, of which each accounting sign
constitutes an indicator); a syntactic one (connected with the capacity to represent the dynamics of the events that
actually take place in a company through a combination of signs able to explain the reciprocal interconnections); and a
pragmatic one (connected with the ability to interpret the signs and accounting occurrences for company decisionmaking purposes). See: M. Ciambotti, previous work, pp. 20-22.
8
As may be read in the Mission Statement of the Italian Society of Accounting History, this discipline can be
identified as the “history of the relations between company trends, which lead to the analysis of quantitative data, of an
accounting or extra-accounting nature”, based on the method of “diachronic comparison”. The subject of historical
evolution being investigated is not the accounting document in itself, but “only the firms, the public administrations, the
3
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the discipline of accounting, concentrating on the study of how to measure and
enumerate events, goods and economic phenomena, responds to a universal need, as
has been stated above, belonging those fundamental needs perceived by every human
being;
over the centuries both the accounting method as well as the system for maintaining
the relative written records thereof - spontaneously defined by the populations in
question, though in different time frames and places - are transmitted and spread
among other populations. Elaborations and developments in the theory and practice of
single Nations are then seen, given the changing social needs and the ever-morecomplex economic events.
The diversity and variability, over time and in geographical terms, of the means with which
people have attempted to provide a response to a universal need have favoured the development of
studies of existing accounting systems of both a historical and a comparative nature. This is true for
practical and theoretical reasons, as well as in the diverse countries. It is necessary to remember
that the accounting doctrine and practices in use in a single country and at a specific moment in
history have always been the result both of the influence exercised by the new environmental
conditions and by the circumstances that occur in that same place and time, both of the preceding
historical evolution as well as the evolution experienced by the theory and practice themselves9 .
2. Accounting History and the foundation of that field of study.
The study of accounting in history and of the business-economic doctrines has represented a
fertile field of research and instruction in Italy, over the last decades, becoming an autonomous
discipline, which is institutionally recognised by the university bylaws. It is nevertheless necessary
to remember that Accounting History began to be developed around the middle of the 19th century,
preceded by certain systemic works on the history of mathematics10 .
The first work regarding Accounting History that was more than just simple erudition on the
subject was “The History of Italian Accounting” by Plinio Bariola in 1897, followed by many other
writings, some brief and partial, others more systematic (it is necessary to recall, during the 1950s,
the works of Ernesto Luchini, Federico Melis, Vincenzo Masi, Tommaso Zerbi, Alberto
Ceccherelli, Tito Antoni, and Carlo Antinori).
Those works of research essentially revolve around four essential themes (Antonio Amaduzzi,
2001, p. 13):
Accounting history as it is traditionally conceived of, such as a genetic and evolutionary
analysis of the arithmetic side of commercial accounts and accounting balances;
the history of firms and companies;
the history of the specific Schools of thought as representing the evolution of
Accounting and economic-business thought;
the history of the relative professions.
entire economic-business world, and therefore including its limits and the conditioning that it undergoes; one may also
discover its possibilities, its successes, its failures, its adaptation more or less successful to change, and its innovations”.
9
M. Ciambotti, “La dialettica tra cultura aziendale, professione contabile e sviluppo degli studi di Ragioneria
secondo un modello dinamico di analisi”, in Cultura aziendale e professione contabile, VII National Conference of the
Italian Society of Accounting Historians (Bari, December 2003), RIREA, Rome, 2005, pp. 255 and following.
10
The first systematic history of mathematics appeared in 1758 by the author I.F. Montucla, having the title
“Histoire des matématiques”. In Italy, in 1802, the first real “Essay on the general history of mathematics”, written by
Carlo Bossut and translated by Andrea Mazzoni was presented in Milan. It is necessary to state that, during the times
preceding that moment, historical analysis was an indistinguishable part of science per se, in that historical analyses and
criticism accompanied the very evolution of the sciences. In our field it is sufficient to recall, for example the book
entitled “De universale mathesios natura et costitutione liber”, published in Amsterdam, 1560, by Vossius Gerardus
Joannis. It recounts the histories of the various sciences, among which mathematics, besides physics, etc. See: Antonio
Amaduzzi, Storia della Ragioneria. Uomini, aziende, contabilità, Collegio dei Ragionieri di Bergamo , Erba, 2001, pp.
10-12.
4
For each of these strands of research which complement one another, questions are raised of
both a methodological nature as well as in the sense of source identification.
The problems connected with the choice of the research methodology, briefly, relate to:
- the “periodisation”, i.e. to the subdivision into historic periods of the analysis structure being
used as a point of reference; this is to be carried out in relation to qualitative leaps, “realised by the
discipline of Accounting in its search for a separate identity as well as in the number of
contributions present at the moment in which the discipline of business economics arose11 ”.
Diversely, it could be carried out in relation to the chronological succession of various works,
which could also be according to their weight and their quality as primary sources;
- the way in which historical analysis is organised, separating it into horizontal sections (such
as how a given, very specific theme evolves over time up to the present) or vertical (how the
discipline which is the object of study lies within the social and cultural context of each epoch in
time and, therefore, measures itself in the light of other disciplines);
- the use of a concept of historical research of the synchronic type (“the science of the past is
studied through the lens of the knowledge possessed nowadays, in order to understand its further
developments”), or else of the diachronic type (the science of the past is studied “in the light of the
situations and the real concepts of the epoch”, leaving out all other successive events)12 ;
- the role and the importance assumed by the “biographical” approach, as one of the
instruments to be used in the historical research.
The question of the identification and listing of the sources (primary and secondary) is crucial
for the History of Accounting as a discipline, as for any other type of historical research. In this
context, it appears important to distinguish, concerning the diverse possibilities according to which
reality may be interpreted, the material sources which can be traced before the appearance of print
at the end of the fifteenth century (documents regarding firm foundation , notary protocols,
commercial registers, merchant letters, merchant administrative documents, personal memoirs and
journal accounts) from those occurring after the discovery of the printed word (accounting and
economic history works, bibliographies, exhibition catalogues on history and the art of accounting,
manuals for the diffusion of scientific knowledge, accounting documents, journals, firm histories
and documentation emerging from firm archives).
Whatever research strand is chosen (the History of Accounting, of Schools of thought, of
firms or of the accounting professions), studies conducted within the Accounting History area
should always be viewed “in the evolution of relationships between companies and scientific and
operative activities of Man, in each historical period” 13 and in every place which is analysed.
In that sense, as concerns the historic study above all regarding accounting entries, takes place
to avoid two major pitfalls (or risks) which threaten the research conducted by accounting
historians.
The first pitfall is that of investigating the historical sources (principally the accounting
registers or administrative documents), in a limited manner, checking and analysing only the
registration characteristics of the accounting method used, without forcing oneself to use the
information contained in the registers or in the accounting documents, in order to “depict a history
of the firms to which the written documents refer and also to study the socio-economic environment
in which they developed” (Antinori, 2001, p.12). An overly narrow definition of Accounting
History is to be strictly avoided, as it confines the research to certain technical and methodological
problems. Basically, it is necessary to re-establish the fact that a true accounting historian is a
person who, beginning with the study of one or more accounting sources, manages to obtain a
series of useful pieces of information to express an opinion about the reality of facts from the past
(the economic and financial situation of a firm or a State or any other administrative entity, trends in
11
S. Pezzoli (1986), cited in Antonio Amaduzzi (2001, p. 14)
Antonio Amaduzzi (2001, p. 15).
13
See: previous work cited, p. 259.
12
5
the monetary flows and the buying power of currencies, historic events of a social, political and
military character, etc), to the extent to which this is possible14 .
The second pitfall (in my opinion more dangerous than the first) is that of researching and
investigating historical facts - perhaps on the basis of the study of the registers or accounting
documents - however starting from an interpretation of those data upon which everything about the
facts themselves has been decided upon a priori, according to an ideological standpoint. This
deprives Accounting History, as a discipline, of any possibility to reach objectivity in study and in
the description of those past facts. In that sense it is easy to agree with the critical opinion
expressed by Esteban Hernandez Esteve 15 on the theoretical bases of the “New Accounting History”
founded on a central paradigm which is part and parcel of the “Behavioural and organisational
accounting” school of thought. This school considers accounting to be an organisational element of
society, to be studied as a configurative ingredient of the social and organisational context of
society, and not as a technique.
Such a way of conceptualising the subject, besides denying the possibility of understanding
the reality of historical facts in a reasonably objective manner, takes away importance from the
exposition and presentation of the historic-accounting facts and, in the end, changes the historian’s
attitude towards these same facts. The historian must not limit him/herself to allowing the facts to
speak for themselves, but should “formulate a priori interpretations that can be verified by the same
facts, rather than allowing the facts themselves to establish the interpretations deriving from the
aforesaid”. With this “new history of accounting”, to be cross-compared with the “traditional” one,
the real pitfall is that of preferring extreme and dogmatic attitudes towards historical research,
interpreting all history “under the single lens of relations of power, privilege and dominion”
(Hernandez Esteve, 2001, p. 31).
Similarly such a danger, according to the same author, can turn into a considerable
opportunity for our traditional History of Accounting, that is, it offers one the chance to incorporate
some positive aspects offered by the new strand of historical-accounting research, “for example:
paying more attention to the interpretation and explanation of facts, conveniently separated from
their simple exposition and analysis, to avoid confusing and leading one to err; highlighting the
contextualisation of the facts themselves; a concern for approaching new research topics which
were not considered in the past; paying greater attention to contrasting the objectivity and the
trustworthiness of the facts brought to light; greater consciousness of the fact that historical reality
cannot be directly known, if not through the representation of our understanding of them, based on
several manifestations – direct statements or writings – that have come down to our time…; more
concern to guide our research based on the theoretical hypotheses upon which our research is based,
etc” (Hernandez Esteve, 2001, p. 33).
3. Accounting History and the historical understanding of socio-political facts
In the Mission Statement of the Italian Society of Accounting History one reads that the
historian is someone who, through making use of documents and sources duly subjected to critical
scientific examination, traces the overall picture of the continual coming into being of humankind,
understanding the past in the manifestations of historical facts discovered inside the environment in
which they were manifested; this, to the end of acquiring valid elements with which to explain them
“without falling into the steely traps of determinism”.
14
As Esteban Hernandez Esteve observed in his “L’espansione della partita doppia e le recenti impostazioni
della Storia della Ragioneria”, in Contabilità e Cultura Aziendale, issue no. 1, 2001, pp. 24-25, Federico Melis and,
above all,Raymond de Roover, deserve recognition for having widened the horizons of accounting history to the socioeconomic context in the widest sense of the expression; thus the history of firms and general economic history became
entwined with accounting history.
15
See: previous work cited, pp. 24 and following.
6
In such research, all the aspects of complex human activities, considered singularly or in their
interconnections, can be the subject of this historical knowledge.
Thus, the accounting historian finds him/herself investigating and interpreting not only the
economic significance that emerges from the gathering and the analysis of documents (whether
accounting-related or not) but also the connection between this meaning and the other topics of a
historical character present only in economic history. Furthermore this is so, for example, in art
history, in social and political events of any State or territorial area, in the relations existing between
families and single individuals as well as strictly personal ones, in geographical changes, in
architecture, etc.
This type of investigation can also be carried out making reference to the first accounting
documents existing in the history of humankind which, as is noted, go back to the Ancient Orient
and concern the entries which the inhabitants of Mesopotamia (5000 years ago) made on clay
tablets to record their commercial exchanges. The origins themselves of the profession of expert
accountant or of “accounts keeper” may be traced back to the great eastern (i.e. China) as well as to
the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilisations16 .
The purpose of my presentation is to examine the relationship existing between the historic
study of accounting entries and the interpretation of historical facts of a social and political nature
emerging from such entries. In doing so reference is in particular made to certain accounting
registers from the beginning of the 15th century.
In Italy libraries and state Archives, whether municipal or belonging to other public and
private entities, are replete with accounting registers and administrative documents going back to
the Medieval times (from the 13th century), many of which have been subjected to analysis by
accounting historians17 .
From the above-mentioned sources it is possible to obtain a large amount of information
concerning the socio-economic conditions of diverse territories, from the organisation of city-level
and city-state level structures to the relationships between the various Signorie, i.e. hereditary
dominions, to the armed companies and military campaigns, to the uprisings and civil wars, to tax
codes, etc.
It is possible, in the interest of exemplifying this process, to recall the following themes of
analysis that emerge from the accounting registers that have already been examined by various
scholars:
power relations between cities or the diverse hereditary dominions, the citizens and
the organisms proposed for the running and administration of cathedrals, abbeys or
other Institutions (Hospitals, castles, charitable works, etc): of considerable interest
16
R. Camodeca, “Le professioni economiche in Italia dall’ascesa ai problemi della globalizzazione”, in Cultura
aziendale e professione, previous work cited., p. 155. Regarding the birth of accounting in society see: Plinio Bariola,
Storia della Ragioneria Italiana, Milan, 1897 and Ernesto Luchini, Storia della Ragioneria Italiana, Milan, 1898. The
term “calculation” itself (from the Latin word “calculus”, i.e. “stone”) was used to signify the stones with geometric
incisions that were used for counting. In ancient Egypt the accounting profession was carried out by the “scribe”, that
is, the pharaoh’s assistant whose responsibility it was to follow his master and register the agricultural work carried out.
During Roman times - following the example of the Egyptians (and the predecessors of the latter, i.e. the Sumerians and
the Babylonians) besides the accounting system developed by the Greeks - surveying, entry and checking systems were
developed that were entrusted to specific men who dedicated themselves to administrative functions called
“ratiocinatores” or “rationatores”, “rationalis summarum”, “scribae librarii quaestoris ab aerario” etc. They were
held in high esteem and were honoured and enjoyed considerable authority as well as being independent in their
functions; it was their responsibility to guarantee effective control over public and private finances. It should be
remembered that in Ancient Rome as well a “College of Calendari, i.e. Calendar Workers” existed, the tasks of which
involved taking care of registers of all types. See: I. Cappellaro, “L’evoluzione storia della professione di ragioniere”,
in Storia della Ragioneria, year I, issue no. 0, RIREA, Rome, 1997, pp. 144-146.
17
Regarding this point it is highly interesting to consult the Bibliography of the Italian Dictionary Group (OVI
Bibliography – Progetto del Consorzio Italnet), containing 1,918 citations from different articles and essays written by
various history scholars up to 2004; the material goes back to 1375 (year of Boccaccio’s death). Many of the
documents cited are accounting registers and administrative documents.
7
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are, for example, studies conducted on the system of separated accounts of the
Cathedral of Siena 18 and the Cathedral of Milan19 ; those on the accounting
documentation concerning work ordered to renew the castles and fortifications in
Crotone between the first half of the 16th century under the Reign of Naples; those on
the Accounting registers of various Hospitals 20 , Theatres21 , Arsenals22 ;
judicial, administrative and tax codes of the States and public entities, and in
particular the accounting systems in use in the Communes, i.e. the self-ruling
municipalities: for example, it is possible to cite the studies on accounting writings
relative to the administration by the Papal State for the Romagna and Marches areas
of central Italy, from May 1279 to March 1280, under the papacy of Nicholas III23 ;
18
The reconstruction of the institutional, organisational and accounting profile of the Workshop of the Cathedral
of Siena and the research carried out on the role that accounting had in the regulation of the power relations between the
diverse stakeholders of that “factory” i.e. production facility (the Commune, workers, bishops’ assistants, cathedral
representatives) were the subject of a paper by A. Riccaboni, E. Giovannoni, A. Giorgi, S. Moscatelli, “Contabilità e
potere nel XIV secolo: il caso della cattedrale di Siena”, in Cultura aziendale e professione, 2005, pp. 333 and
following.
19
Besides the various studies carried out by Tommaso Zerbi, it is possible to cite the work by F. Bof, M.
Saltamacchia, “Le procedure amministrative di valutazione e vendita delle donazioni in natura per il finanziamento del
Duomo di Milano nel XIV secolo”, in Contabilità e Cultura Aziendale, issue no. 1, 2005, pp. 83 and following, in
which the system of financing the Cathedral Workshop is discussed in more detail; the aforesaid was promoted by Gian
Galeazzo Visconti.
20
To provide examples one may cite: G. Bologni, “Lo spedale di S. Maria e spedale di Signorello”, in PratoStoria e Arte, VIII, 1963; P. Di Toro, R. Di Pietra, Amministrazione e contabilità nel XV e XVI secolo. Lo Spedale
senese del Santa Maria della Scala attraverso i libri contabili, Cedam, Padova, 1999; F. Spigarelli, Contabilità
generale e strumenti di controllo interno nel XVI e XVII secolo: storia e cultura dell’Ospedale S. Croce di Fano
attraverso le sue scritture contabili, in VI National Conference of the Italian Society of Accounting Historians, 2001; E.
Vagnoni, “L’ospedale S.Anna di Ferrara: amministrazione e contabilità nei secoli XVII e XVIII”, in Cultura aziendale
e professione, previous work cited, 2005, pp. 429 ;
21
See V. Antonelli, R. D’Alessio, G. Iuliano, “La ragioneria nel diciottesimo secolo: il sistema contabile del
Teatro San Carlo di Napoli”, in Contabilità e Cultura Aziendale, issue no. 2, 2004, pp. 146 and following.
22
L. Zan, S. Zambon, “Movimenti finanziari e pratiche amministrative nell’arsenale di Venezia (seconda metà
del XVI secolo)”, in IV National Conference of the Italian Society of Accounting Historians, RIREA, Rome, 1998.
23
Ernesto Luchini, previous work cited., p. 53 considers the work entitled “Libro Introiti ed Esiti”, which is
conserved in the Vatican Archives to be one of the most ancient accounting registers in existence. The ledger notes, in
the first inscription on every page, Receipts specifying “Donno Papa Nicola III de’ avere…”, and the Exits, specifying
“Donno Papa Nicola III de’ dare”, while the inscriptions which followed specified only “De’ avere” (i.e. credits) e
“De’ dare” (i.e. debits). The exceptional importance of this Code from the 1200s and other accounting books from the
Pontifical Court conserved in the Vatican Archives was brought to the light by a monk from Cassia, father Gregorio
Palmieri, who was the second custodian of the Archives from 1877 onwards. He transcribed and had this account
published in 1889. Plinio Bariola, previously cited text pp. 258 and following, recalls how Palmieri considered the
above-mentioned accounting register to be one of the most ancient documents in the Italian language, having been
“written in the illustrious vulgar language (i.e. the budding Italian dialect) roughly thirty years before Alighieri put his
hand to writing his treatise praising the common language, i.e. De vulgari eloquio”. The accounting inscriptions
contained in 59 sheets, noted the debits and credits made by the Pope’s treasurer, above all relative to the various events
in the Marches city of Ancona (a papal-controlled city). Another series of accounting ledgers which are particularly
interesting is that of the Counting Books i.e. Libri di Conti of Antonio Fatati, bishop of Teramo and Treasurer General
of the Ancona Marches area from 1449 onwards. In this case we are talking about the revenue and expenditure ledgers
of the Provincial Treasury of the Pontifical State, having its headquarters in the city of Macerata, relative to the fouryear period of 1449-1453 and containing entries of sums collected as percentage cuts, surveys, rents, sentences, fixed
contributions, subsidies and other diverse payments requested of the Communes, of clerics, of the Jewish community
and other single subjects; and of sums paid out for stipends, wages, fixed costs connected with the Marches district
administration. This series of books, conserved in the Archives of the State of Rome, has been studied by the historian
Elio Lodolini. See: M. Ciambotti, “Cenni di storia della ragioneria e della professione contabile, con particolare
riferimento alla realtà marchigiana”, in I conti tornano. Storia del Collegio dei Ragionieri di Pesaro e Urbino, Pesaro,
2007, pp. 69-102; also see this publication for a primary survey of the most antique and interesting accounting registers
existing in the main cities of the territory of the Pesaro-Urbino Province.
8
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or else those on the Accounting books of the Communes of Genoa24 and of
Florence25 (during the 14th and 15th centuries);
the nature of the dominations of States over single territories: it is possible to cite,
for example, the study by A. Riccaboni e A. Barretta on the domination of the
Savoyards over the city of Alghero, in Sardinia26 ;
political power, the ability to mint currency and the determination of exchange
rate fluctuations: for example the studies conducted by Tommaso Zerbi on the
“Liber tabulle rationum” registers of the Visconti era come to mind. The latter reveal
the existence of contrasts within the political power structure of that hereditary
dominion, precisely in relation to authorisation to mint new coins (gold florins) and
the determination of the exchange rate with other currencies27 ;
24
See: Plinio Bariola, Storia della Ragioneria, previous work cited., pp. 330 and following; L. Anselmi, M.
Zuccardi Merli, “Esperienze di scritture contabili nel Comune di Genova (XIV secolo): contributo alla formazione del
pensiero pacioliano”, presented at the International Conference held in Venice to celebrate Fra’ Luca Pacioli ((9-12
Aprile 1994); F. De Leonardis, “Il contributo genovese all’uso e alla pratica contabile nell’Alto Medioevo”, in Summit
09, special supplement issue of no. 76 of Summa, December 1993, pp. 24-26. It should be remembered that the city of
Genoa represented one of the first cases of development of the accounting technique at the Commune level. The
Commune of Genoa, following the expansionistic undertakings of Spain in 1148, found itself “very indebted, for which
reason it deliberated to take - ahead of time and for a certain period, the sum necessary from its wealthy citizens to face
the most urgent needs; in return it conceded to the aforesaid part of the public revenues” (De Leonardis, 1993, p. 25).
These first “purchases” in the guise of an authentic public debt operation, from temporary became definitive measures
with the birth of the first companies which, in exchange for sums ceded before the fact, stipulated the purchasing
agreements to buy proceeds that would come out of certain Gabelle, i.e. taxes. These companies, for all practical
purposes, “bought” the Commune’s right to a certain Gabella that had previously been contracted out, or they even took
over the management of it, at their own risk and in the interest of the State. Thus the Genoese public debt was created;
the same situation will be found in 1408 when the Bank of San Giorgio was set up;. The latter was given the
administration of all the mortgages, the purchases and the comperette ordered up to the year 1200 and which were
registered in diverse document collections over which the Visitatori had control. The latter had the task of controlling
the accounting inscriptions of all government managers, to highlight the precise tax collection obligations of the various
debtors. Their tasks were then gradually passed on to two Communal stewards, i.e. “massarii communis” and two
“magistri rationales” in 1300: the former had to inscribe in the stewards’ books in which were registered all the cash
deposit movements of the Genoese State, while the latter had to exert both preventative controls over the stewards’
administration, subjecting to controls each payment order; additionally, ex post checks were also carried out, with the
examination and verification of the correctness of the overall balance sheets. The “magistri rationales” represented the
first example of public accountants organised into a distinct group, in that it was proposed that they check the
accounting books, which had to be kept up in terms of their up-datedness and veracity, without the possibility of
carrying out changes or alterations at a distance in time. All this in the respect of the registration rules concerning the
single operations.
25
P. Rigobon, La contabilità di Stato nella Repubblica di Firenze e nel Granducato di Toscana, Girgenti, 1892
and P. Bariola, Storia della Ragioneria, previous work cited., pp. 321-328, to which one should turn for certain
references to other accounting practice existing in diverse Communes in the 15th and 16th centuries. It is also important
to recall, furthermore, the existence of other Communal registers cited by certain Masters of our Accounting field: the
Communal Ledger no. 3 of Massaria (from 1385) of the city of Reggio Emilia, cited in Besta, Zerbi and Antinori; the
registers of the general accounts of the finances of the D’Este duchy (starting from 1411), which were the object of a
brief research paper by Pietro Sitta, cited in Besta; the accounting registers concerning the management of the Treasury
of the Visconti family in Milan (1356-1359).
26
A. Riccaboni, A. Barretta, “The Savoyard dominion of Alghero through the accounting documents of the Molo
firm, 1829-1846”, in III National Conference of the Italian Society of Accounting Historians, Pacini, Pisa, 1997, pp.
105 and following.
27
Cited in See: T. Zerbi, Moneta effettiva e moneta di conto nelle fonti contabili di storia economica, Marzorati,
Milan, 1955 and “Il Liber tabulle rationum nella economia viscontea del ‘300”, in Summit 09, special supplement to
issue no. 76 of Summa, December 1993, pp. 7-9. It is also possible to read, in this number, A. Montrone,
“Autenticazione dei libri ed omogeneità della moneta di conto nell’opera del ‘Paciolo’”, pp. 58-65 and G. Ianniello,
“Moneta di conto e sistema di scritture contabili nelle fiere ‘genovesi’ dei cambi tra il XVI ed il XVII secolo”, pp. 177185. See: also studies by Tito Antoni on the theme of the relationship between actual money and the counting
currencies used in the various medieval accounting sources.
9
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the development of commercial activities and maritime journeys is interesting:
for example, the study of the statements and of the accounting entries of the
commercial-maritime journeys from the 12th -17th centuries carried out by Berti28 .
A separate, in-depth analysis must be dedicated to the series of 113 Malatesta Codes, which
are in every sense accounting registers from the period spanning the 1300s and 1400s. The Codes,
conserved in the State Archives in Fano, and “rediscovered” thanks to Carlo Antinori, who by
chance became aware of their existence in 2002 and was able to personally examine them. This
great author of Accounting History, who passed away in 2006, had chosen register no. 43 for
transcription and study from both a historical as well as an accounting point of view. The
aforementioned work was carried on and finished by the present author, together with Anna
Falcioni, both of the “Carlo Bo” University of Urbino. The resulting volume Liber viridis
rationum curie domini. Un registro contabile della cancelleria di Pandolfo III Malatesti (The
Liber viridis rationum curie domini. The Accounting Register System of the Court Administration
of Pandolfo III ), was published by Argalìa Editore, Urbino, in 2007.
Historians have always considered these registers to be a precious source of information on
various socio-economic aspects, and in particular “on the military and civil expenses of the
Malatesta family, on the taxes imposed on their subjects, on the identity of the artists, artisans,
medical doctors and others present on the payrolls of the noble Lord they served ”29 . In this work
it is necessary to note the importance that these registers hold in terms of the light they shed on
certain facts and events of a political nature that occurred in Italian history during the 14th and 15th
centuries. In particular, the research carried out on register no. 43, the Liber viridis rationum curie
domini, represents – in our opinion – a magnificent example of how an accounting register may
flesh out
the description and interpretation of certain historical facts, contributing greater
objectivity and precision to historical research per se.
4. The importance of the Malatesta registers in the political history of the 14th and 15th
centuries
4.1 Some formal and methodological aspects of accounting in the malatestian registers
The accounting registers of Fano belong to the administration of the Malatesta family, from
1357 to 1463, that is, the dominion from the time of Galeotto I to the end of that of Sigismondo
Pandolfo. The complete Archives, the contents of which is the work of Aurelio Zonghi, in his
Repertorio dell’Antico Archivio Comunale di Fano (Summary of the Contents of the Ancient
Archives of the Commune of Fano), published by the Tipografia Sonciniana, Fano, in 1888; the
aforesaid contains diverse expense registers, registers of work carried out, incoming profits and
outgoing cash flows, registers with separate sections for debits and credits, and inventories
documenting the administration of the city of Fano and its territory during the course of the
Malatesta dominion. Of particular interest are the Books of Pandolfo III30 , concerning the Dominion
28
Cited in See: M. Berti, “La contabilità dei viaggi marittimo -comerciali nella realtà operativa dei secoli XIIXVIII”, in Summit 09, special supplement to issue no. 76 of Summa, December 1993, pp. 66-81 and the bibliographic
citations contained therein.
29
C. Antinori, “I conti al tempo dei Malatesta”, in Summa, no. 182, October 2002, p. 52.
30
Pandolfo III, Lord of Fano and son of Galeotto I of the Malatesti family, was born on 2nd January 1270. As
soon as he inherited power, upon the death of his father (1385), he began to serve Gian Galeazzo Visconti (the first
Duke of Milan), for whom he became a military leader. At the death of the latter he found himself, together with his
brother Carlo (1368-1429), Lord of Rimini, designated among the tutors of Visconti’s children. In exchange for his
services to the Duchy, in 1404, Pandolfo III received the dominion of the city of Brescia, which became independent
upon the death of the Duches s Mother and after the revolution of Milan. In 1408, he became the Lord of the city of
Bergamo as well, by purchasing the city from Giovanni Suardi, in part with the Brescians’ money. Pandolfo III had 3
children, Galeotto II Roberto (1411-1431), the famo us Sigismondo Pandolfo (1417-1468) and Domenico Malatesta
called “Malatesta Novello” (1418-1465); the latter succeeded Andrea Malatesta (Pandolfo III’s other brother, 13731417) as Lord of Cesena. Pandolfo III died of fever during a journey to Loreto on 3rd October 1427 and was buried in
10
of Fano and carried out by the various farm bailiffs and castle keepers, and by his Depositors,
Giovanni and Andrea Bettini of Florence and Tommaso di Francesco from Montefano, during the
period spanning 1386-1426 ); as reigning Lord of the cities of Brescia and Bergamo between 1405
and 1421 (the most important series from the point of view of the form and the accounting method
used, i.e. the so-called “Lombard tabular” one, which was typical of accounts directly or indirectly
concerning the Visconti administration between the 1400s and the 1500s ; and as the Lord of the
Vicariate of Mondavio and of Senigallia (expense registers and books containing the sums received
and paid out between 1396 and 1415, from the Depositor of the city of Senigallia Niccolò de
Mariani da Cremona). Then there are the Libri Contabili, i.e. Accounting Registers of Carlo
Malatesta and his nephews (Galeotto Roberto, Sigismondo Pandolfo and Malatesta Novello), which
again refer to the governing of the city of Fano until 1463: libri delle ragioni i.e. registers noting
the reasons for expenses made (in tabular form), daily registers with receipts and payments, registry
books listing duties; expense registers, registers of the nature of taxes, etc., written by Depositors,
responsible officials, bailiffs of diverse properties (Marotta, Molini di Fano, Caminata, etc.), the
podestà, castle keepers and constables. Other volumes concern the administration of the Vicariate
of Mondavio, Orciano e Senigallia (1422-1459), and of the estates at Montetorto (1415-1416) and
Montemarciano belonging to the wife of Sigismondo Pandolfo, Lady Isotta degli Atti (1454-1456).
It should be noted that, apart from the research carried out by Zonghi and certain other
analyses completed, including those contained in university graduation theses, and by historians and
literary scholars 31 , and our own work on register no. 43, these registers await to be studied in a
deeper fashion by Accounting History researchers. It is fascinating to contemplate the hypothesis
made by Carlo Antinori (2002, p. 55), according to whom, considering the considerable number of
registers that concern the Malatesta administration in the Marches region and which “present formal
and substantial characteristics which are quite unique that deserve to be studied and rendered public
knowledge”, “it could be that a regional Marche-level Accounting School could be identified and
added to the other already-known ones”.
There are 29 accounting registers in Fano going back to the court of Pandolfo Malatesti
during the period in which he was reigning Lord of the cities of Brescia and Bergamo. Those
registers, numbered from 40 to 68, are almost all kept in the tabular form, with the two sections for
Expenditures (on the left) and Revenue at the top of the same sheet, with inscriptions concerning a
single or more than one year. The object of the movement checks concerns debit and credit entries
between the treasurer and the diverse subjects that entered into contact with him; otherwise entries
related to the profits and the various duty collectors , the percentage cuts and taxes, the sentences
and fines paid. There are, then, certain registers that can be considered daily registers in their first
part and expenditure and revenue registers in their second half. Yet others are complete daily
registers, written in a strictly chronological manner and without any expenditure and revenue
entries.
From the citations and invitations to ‘see’ a certain section or another in the registers that
have come down to our times, it is possible to reconstruct the various series of books that must have
constituted the entire Accounting archives of the Lordship of Pandolfo the Third32 :
- Sectorial Ledgers (libri de partito o de partiti): In these books the entries from the
cronogical boos (Journals) are recorded in systematic order, under the name of the
account holders (debtors and creditors). They are simple, annual or multi-annual
Sectorial Ledgers, with systematic entries, at times analytic and at times providing a
Fano, in the Church of San Francesco. Regarding the history of the Malatesta family See: Franceschini, I Malatesta,
Dall’Oglio , Varese, 1973.
31
In particular, the most important historical study appears to be that edited by Giorgetta Bonfiglio-Dosio and by
Anna Falcioni (La Signoria di Pandolfo III Malatesti a Brescia, Bergamo e Lecco, Bruno Ghigi, Rimini, 2000).
32
See: M.Ciambotti, “Il sistema dei registri contabili della cancelleria di Pandolfo III. Il Liber viridis rationum
curie domini (1407-1409)”, in M. Ciambotti, A. Falcioni, Liber viridis rationum curie domini. Un registro contabile
della cancelleria di Pandolfo III Malatesti, Argalia, Urbino, 2007.
11
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-
-
-
brief summary of the explanations registered in the books of origin. They are
written generally in the vernacular language with merchant’s writing, in the same or
in different hands, and the original title of the book is associated with the colour of
their cover (black, yellow, red, light blue) or, at times, with a letter of the alphabet
(ex. “labelled as Q”). The Debit and Credit books of this kind that have survived in
Fano are those numbered 40, 41, 44, 46, 54, 56;
Journals and Sectorial Ledgers (“Journal-Ledgers”): In its first part (about the
first 30 pages) these books contain in chronological sequence the entries concerning
Pandolfo Malatesti’s expenses. They are written in two columns per sheet without a
formal Debit and Credit structure. The remaining part presents the usual shape of
Sectorial Ledgers written in two columns per page, with debits (deve dare) on the left
and credits (deve avere must receive) on the right. The registers that belong to this
series (nos. 45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53) have expense entries which afterwards are
transcribed to the multi-annual Journal no. (called the White Book or Liber
expensarum signatus G”) which in this way results an ordered, systematic and
subsequent copy which of the Journal parts containing such entries, which covered
the period between 1414-1421;
Journals: in the books no. 48 (Journal of income and expenditure of Pandolfo
Malatesti’s Chamber, Lord of Brescia, 1415, written in vernacular language in
merchants’ handwriting) and no. 55 (Journal of expenditure or liber expensarum G,
1414-1421)) the expenses of every year concerning Pandolfo III’s court are registered
in chronological order, by three- or fourth-months periods. They are always set out in
two columns per sheet without the Debit and Credit structure;
Income Book and Expenditure Book: the existence of this series of books can only
be presumed by the citations and the references contained in the Fano registers,
because it seems that none of them has survived. They are quoted by the simple
expressions “Income” or “Expenditure” or by them the colour of their cover;
Payment and Receipt Books (Dati et Recepti): the existence of these books is only
known thanks to the quotation of them in the surviving books, because none of these
books has survived. The chronological overlaps of the citations prevent us from
knowing the exact number and sequence of the single books. Diverse books are cited
(the Liber dati et recepti marked with P 1406, the Liber albus dati et recepti, the
Liber viridis dati et recepti 1409, etc.). From their titles it is possible to deduce that
these are cash registers, containing the systematic entries of cash incomings and
outgoings. The entries were recorded under the Treasurer’s responsibility, probably
with the cooperation of the magistri intratarum, i.e. Revenue Masters. They were
figures of the Chancellery who played an active role in the registering of accounting
entries;
Loan Books (Libri Prestanziarium) or Creditor Books and the Debtor Books
(Libri debitorum): the Loan Books (or Books of Creditors) are multi-annual and
have a summarized contents of the various entries recorded in other annual books and
were referred, above all, to the people who have had a work or collaboration
relationship with the seigniorial Administration or who had lent sums of money to
Pandolfo Malatesta for his most various needs. These people could, essentially, be
considered creditors of Lord Pandolfo III.. The records of this series were registered
in the usual Debit and Credit form, written in Latin with two columns per page. The
diverse creditors of the Chancellery were debited in the Loan Book at the moment
that the treasurer was credited for the payment received. As contra item of the funds
put at the disposal of the Lord, the treasurer’s account is debited and the funds are
registered in Credit section of the books. The Libri Debitorum have an algebraically
opposite sign to that of the Loan Books. Their contents could not yet be precisely
12
deciphered, given the absence of any surviving registers. We only have citations in
the Fano registers together with references to books recording outstanding rent
amounts and the defaulting debtors of customs duties;
Accounting Books of the Seigniorial Court (libri rationum curie domini): These
are tabular Ledgers written in Latin and containing the entries (Debits and Credits) of
the accounts opened for the diverse components of the administration and the
seigniorial court. From their contents and the references to other books it can be
assumed that these Ledgers constituted a synthetic accounting, multi-annual, of the
more specific analytical entries registered in sectorial books, such as the dati et
recepti, prestanziarum, customs duties, fines and sentences, etc, all of them referred
to the debts and credits of people who maintained relationships with the Malatesta
administrations in Brescia and Bergamo. Two registers of this series have survived
each of them with a different structure: no. 43 (Liber viridis rationum curie domini,
1407-1409), and no. 58 (Liber niger rationum familie et curie magnifici et excelsi
domini Pandulfi de Malatestis, 1415-1420);
Books of Customs Duties (nos. 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65), Tallies (nos. 67 e 68),
Pecuniary Fines (no. 66) and Grazie, i.e. “mercies” granted by the Lord in
recognition of services, as well as various indirect taxes: All of these books are
annual registers or multi-annual ones, kept in tabular form with two columns. They
were designated with a letter of the Latin alphabet, the colour of the cover or both.
They contain entries concerning the collection of customs duties, of tallies, of fines
given by sentences and other taxes. In the duties books, kept by the Treasurer, the
different customs officers were debited when they cashed the duties and credited in
their respective accounts opened in the corresponding books when they delivered the
collected sums to the treasurer of the Chancellery. In his turn, the latter was debited in
the book “rationum curie” register. In some cases, the debit/credit entries of the
leaseholder of duties collection were recorded in the Loan Books.
Register no. 43, as previously stated, belonging to the series of the Accounting Books of the
seigniorial court (Libri rationum curie domini), measures 405x300 millimetres, with a new brown
leather binding due to a restoration carried out. The title may be understood from the heading of
sheet II recto (“Rubrica huius libri viridis rationum curie domini”) as well as from the citations
contained in Book no. 42 (“in libro viridi rationum curie domini”).
The pagination is the original one, written in Roman numerals in ink on the sheets I to CCCI
recto at the top on the right, while a new numeration in Arab numerals, written deliberately in
pencil at the moment of the restoration, appears on the recto at the bottom on the left, on the same
sheets.
The register is written in Latin, using a small cancellaresca formata (chancery cursive)
handwriting on watermark paper, and is composed of 301 numbered sheets, of which some are
blank.
The structure of the register may be summarized in four parts:
1) Sheets IIr to IIIIr contain an index with the names of the people who had business relations
with the House of Pandolfo Malatesti and who, in the records were debited and credited in
their respective accounts;
2) Sheets VIr to XIIv were devoted to contain Pandolfo III’s account and were intended to be
debited with the expenses credited to chancellor Giacomo Malaguercia (in reality these
sheets are blank except for the first one that contains the following script: “Magnificus et
excelsus dominus noster dominus Pandulfus de Malatestis Brixie et cetera, dominus
generalis debet dare scriptos in credito Iacobo Maleguercie canzelario prelabati”);
3) Sheets XIIIr to LIIv were devoted to contain the account of the treasurer (from sheet XIIIr
to sheet XVIIIv the account of Giacomo Malaguercia of Forlì is comprised, which was
opened for the period from November 1406 to December 1407; and from sheet XXr to sheet
13
LIIv the account included is that of Gioacchino Malagonella of Florence relative to the years
1408-1409);
4) Sheets LVIIr to sheet CCLXXXVIIr hold the accounts opened to creditors and debtors of
the Lord.
Therefore, excluding the rubric and the blank pages of the noble lord’s account, it is possible to
distinguish two principle parts of the register: the first one contains the entries of the two treasurers’
accounts in chronological order; the second contains Pandolfo III’s creditors’ and debtors’ accounts
as counter items of the various entries registered in the first part.
The account opened in the name of the Treasurer worked in the following way:
• Among the Debits are the entries for the funds available in the Treasury and those
transferred by the municipal Treasury of Brescia; all the sums collected by the diverse
collectors, leaseholders of the collection of customs duties Communes, massari and
various debtors; personal entries for the payment of the corresponding salaries;
• On the Credit side are recorded all the payments made to creditors, family members and
all stipendiary of the noble household (including the cash to pay Pandolfo’s espenses
and his fees). Other credit entries were the payment for the use of the sums available in
the Treasury fund.
The accounts opened for the various creditors of the Chancellery, included in the second part
of the register, functioned in the following manner:
•
•
On the Debit side are recorded all the payments to the people who had right to receive
them and that already were credited ni the treasurer’s account, as well as the payments
made with funds transferred from the treasury to make possible that everyone could
accomplish his task (foodstock holder, factors, etc.);
On the Credit side the entries show the due amounts as compensations not yet cleared or
reimbursement for expenses made (journeys, etc).
4.2 The general structure of the Chancellery of Pandolfo III Malatesti as it appears from the
accounting registers
A close examination of the accounting inscriptions contained in register no. 43 (and in the
other registers of the Malatesta Code from nos. 40-68) shows itself to be highly useful and
significant in order to deepen one’s knowledge of the events surrounding Pandolfo III in Lombardy
in the complex context of the 1200-1300s and to investigate “both the functioning of the court and
the Administration of its dominus, i.e. its noble lord, as it interacts with that of the Commune,
within the confines of an institutional relationship as well as military, economic, cultural ones,
bearing witness to various phases of the political life of the city and its ruler” (Falcioni, 2007, p.
12).
For reasons of pure illustration, the following are several historical analyses on which the
accounting registers undoubtedly manage to shed some light.
The political model enacted by Pandolfo III, lord of Brescia, Bergamo and Lecco
The political model observed by Pandolfo Malatesti is in some respects quite different from
that of the typical Italian hereditary dominion (for example that of the Visconti family in Milan)33 .
The latter built the political power of their States by counting on the support of the feudal class, the
faithfulness of whose members was assured by the favours and benefits that guaranteed the survival
of its own prestige, though limited and subordinate to the importance enjoyed by the members of
the Visconti family. Therefore, the support offered to the members of the feudal families or small
rural lordships constituted an extremely important instrument for the consolidation of the power of
33
See: I. Valetti Bonini, “Il territorio bresciano durante la dominazione di Pandolfo Malatesta (1404-1421), in G.
Bonfiglio-Dosio, A. Falcioni (editor), previous work cited., pp. 89 and following.
14
the hereditary dominions. In the case of Pandolfo III as well it is possible to find this policy in
favour of local lords, from whom he expected faithful support. At the same time he also shrewdly
directed his attention in more in general way towards the inhabitants of the territory surrounding
Brescia: for example the artisans, by protecting the activities of the aforesaid and exercising
economic policies able to favour the positive development of that territory.
Pandolfo’s concept
appears to be a more utilitarian and open interpretation of power and the relationship with his
subjects,34 to the extent that his biographers wrote that his governing approach was “intelligent,
valorous, beneficent and humane and that it left its trace in the socio-political context in that area
for many years (Falcioni, 2007, p. 38). During his 17 year-long rule he had occasion to “found and
reinforce a governing method, a Mint, a Chancellery, a Court, which functioned both as a pole of
attraction for artists, both Italian and non-Italian, as well as a place in which the consensus in the
city itself was forged” (Falcioni, 2007, p. 12). The first-hand accounts provided on this governing
methodology by the accounting inscriptions in the Fano registers are innumerable and attest to the
way in which daily life played out between the relationship between the centre and periphery and
the policies established by the lord towards the territory:
Control over the fortified areas was considered to be strategic for the conservation of
the dominion and was part of the general plan to prevent revolts. For this reason his
attention was strongly directed towards the maintenance of the fortresses, castles and
forts, which he took care to reconstruct or build, as he also kept an eye on the arming,
training and consistency of the armed companies therein35 . For this reason important
decrees were made which document the imposition of ad hoc percentage cuts for the
keeping up of castles and for the reconstruction and arming of the various fortresses
in the area of Brescia. For example, diverse inscriptions in register no. 43 make
reference to the reconstruction of the strategic fortress of Asola: Pandolfo imposed on
the surrounding Communes the necessity to contribute to its reconstruction and
personally granted concessions and privileges that allowed the inhabitants to maintain
autonomous management of their village. Another significant episode was attested to
by an accounting entry contained in register no. 43: in the month of April 1409 a
transfer of 1,000 gold ducats was registered to be used towards a part of the credit (in
all gold 12,000 ducats) received by the famous military commander Stanghelino della
Palude, as compensation for having ceded the important Romano castle to Pandolfo
III, seeing that he had sacked and occupied it (other monetary transfers made for the
same reason were registered in diverse other pages of that same register);
Pandolfo’s desire to obtain a high level group of artists for Brescia’s curia nova can
be seen
in expenses entered in numerous Accounting registers, both for the
restoration and decoration of Broletto (featuring the frescos by the famous Marches
painter Gentile da Fabriano and the works of other famous artists such as Bartolino
Testorino) as well as urban consolidation projects and the decoration of the inside of
public buildings by goldsmiths, illustrators, embroiderers, woodcarvers and other
artist-artisans;
The fiscal policy of Pandolf, and in particular that centring on the imposition of
percentage cuts, determined on the basis of the land tax, speaks of the Malatesta
bureaucratic-administrative structure which included the maintenance of local
autonomies, while at the same time keeping them within a financial context that also
34
See: previous work cited, p. 101. It is possible to hypothesize that this may be justified by the fact that
Pandolfo’s noble court was created without a solid base, and tried to emerge in the midst of much uncertainty in a
tumultuous and violent age.
35
The captains of the citadels and castle keepers were always people nominated directly by Pandolfo, and often
came from the Marches region (from which he hailed), such as Francesco Negusanti of Fano, Gottiboldo of Osimo and
Pietro Piccinino of S. Elpidio ( the latter was an Officer over the munitions of the fortresses and forts, having the power
to decide on the castle keepers’ tasks)). Furthermore, the fortified areas had their own specific accounts, which was an
efficacious instrument of control over the military stocks.
15
-
corresponds to the ruling lord’s personal necessities and those of his court. Indeed,
taxes, were used not only for the political, economic and military management of the
territory but also for the pressing personal and military needs of Pandolfo III as
military leader of the Venetian Republic36 . Several registers (i.e. numbers 42, 43, 54)
document the relationship between the camera comunis/camera domini and the exact
amount of the different fiscal burdens placed on the inhabitants of the diverse city
areas, of the nobles in the territory and the Communes of the Brescia, collected by the
noble administration treasurer, Gioacchino Malagonella;
Other fiscal aspects, the decrees announced by Pandolfo were principally aimed at
undermining the transgressions that endangered the efficacy of his personal power
(the one against the illegal bearing of arms contained in the decree concerning
armaments dated 20th August 1406). The registers above all attest to the effects of
the above-said decree, highlighting the strength of the sentences given to violators.
Other decrees yet aimed at regulating the flows of old and new coinage.
The organisational model of the Chancellery of Pandolfo III
Being well aware of the precarious nature of his personal rule over the city of Brescia and its
surrounding territory Pandolfo left no space to the powerful locals by nominating people from Fano
as his vicars; it may be supposed that they had followed him during his Brescian period and that
they were nominated by express wish of the lord of the city society: in particular it is worth
remembering the general vicars Ugolino Pili and Matteo Petrucci (the latter was later the Podestà
of Brescia, in 1413)37 . The organisation of a complex bureaucratic apparatus which directly
depended upon the noble lord constituted an impressive governing instrument, with direct influence
on the administration and the Communal bureaucracy. Diverse registers attest to the commission
and interchanging roles of certain personages: register no. 66 documents how, for example, how a
Podestà could also at the same time be a lieutenant of the judge responsible for sentencing
wrongdoers. Other ledgers (nos. 46 and 53) reveal the costs of the stipends of the Commune’s
various employees as they appeared in the noble lord’s accounting registers.
The registers are additionally obviously important to understand the organisational structure
of the court administration, highlighting the central figures that operated in it: the chancellor, i.e. the
person responsible for the production of official documents which were not of an accounting nature;
the treasurer, the vice-treasurer, the assistant accountants who helped the treasurer, the purse
keepers, the surveyors, the master income keepers, the chamber personnel, the depositors, the subcontracted tariff collectors, the tax collectors, the stewards and farm baliffs 38 .
The military organisational structure
There are other accounting registers (for example no. 43 or no. 54 which make reference to
the period 1412-1414), which constitute a precious representative source of the various components
of the Malatest company at arms operating in Lombardy: the constables, captains and lance carriers,
corporals and armoury smiths. Each category of personnel is named by citing his geographical
provenance and military rank, besides the amount of his stipend. In register no. 43 the various
name-bearing accounts belonging to constables and lance carriers allow us to verify the often-times
quite high amounts of compensation received, as well as how these amounts are distributed amongst
the lance-bearing components. All this allows one to ave access to a direct source of information
useful to better under standing the complex phenomenon that was the mercenary soldier context.
36
See: A. Falcioni, “Censimento della compagnia d’arme di Pandolfo III (1412-1414)”, in G. Bonfiglio-Dosio,
A.Falcioni (editor), previous work cited, p.407.
37
G. Bonfiglio-Dosio, “Il variopinto mondo della cancelleria signorile”, in G. Bonfiglio-Dosio, A.Falcioni
(editore), previous work cited., p.72.
38
See: previous work cited pp. 75 and following
16
Court Life
The accounting registers represent a precious source from which one can to also understand
the humanistic inclinations of Pandolfo, which were above all expressed in the function that he
attributed to his court: that of acting as a directing force to stimulate the cultural and artistic climate
therein and to provide e a place in which those activities could be organised in the city of Brescia
and wider surrounding territory. From the registers we have a direct historical window on the
cultural dynamism of the Chancellery and of the refined and International character of Malatesta
patronage, with the various notable personages who were guests there; the opening of a mint,
(1406-1408); the presence of goldsmiths and the highest level of jeweller ; the active presence of
musicians, poets and men from the artistic world coming from diverse parts of Europe; the
purchases of precious cloth which was then cut and embroidered, the possession of tinted cloth and
of high quality hose; the wide range of accessories (belts, hoods and hats, gloves, etc.) purchased
according to the aesthetic tastes of the day; the use of objects of luxury (eyeglasses, timepieces,
flasks decorated with gold, etc.); the purchase of precious books and manuscripts commissioned to
be copied and illuminated; the jousts, tourneys and pastimes (Falcioni, 2007, pp. 38-59).
4.3 Two cases of political history from the Fifteenth century on which light is shed by the
accounting registers
To provide a specific example of the contribution that accounting entries may make to historic
investigations in the socio-political field two facts may be cited that concern the noble
administration of Pandolfo III at the beginning of the XV century: the considerable loan received
by Pandolfo from the Republic of Venice in the month of September 1409 and the conquest of the
city of Bergamo in june of 140839 .
On the 7th of September 1409 the Venetian Senate, by a slim margin of votes (53 to 49, with
two abstaining votes) decided on a loan the steep amount of which was decided upon three days
later as 20.000 gold ducats; this in favour of Pandolfo and his brother Malatesta Malatesti, who had
arrived in Venice those days to plead their cause during a very brief visit given the fear – expressed
by the Senate itself – that in their absence the commander of the French troops, Marshall
Boucicault, who was also Governor of Genoa, should attempt an attack or that the Malatesta troops
should disband or pass into the service of others. The sum was to be paid out in two instalments:
the first consisting in 12.000 ducats, which was immediately available in Verona, and the second of
8.000 ducats which was to be available within a month. In exchange the two Malatesti brothers
undertook to repay the entire sum by means of a letter of obligation with their own seals (it was
even possible that Pandolfo could undertake this promise alone, in the event that Malatesta was not
willing to commit with him), ceding to Venice the controversial places and castles which were the
object of disagreement with the noble lord of Cremona, besides agreeing to granting Venice the
power to judge how the problem should be resolved. The money should have served to enrol about
1.000 lance-bearing soldiers to be used against the French in Lombardy40 . In register no. 43 under
39
Both these cases are amply cited in the work by M. Ciambotti, “Il sistema dei registri contabili della
cancelleria di Pandolfo III. Il Liber viridis rationum curie domini (1407-1409)”, in M. Ciambotti, A. Falcioni, Liber
viridis rationum curie domini. Un registro contabile della cancelleria di Pandolfo III Malatesti, see: preceding
footnote.
40
The noble court of Pandolfo guaranteed Venice the right to control the western confines, which were strong
and well-integrated with other allied states and solidly within the chain of power relationships that protected it to the
south. For this reason an alliance (together with the noble lordships of Ferrara and Mantua) consisting in an agreement
to provide mutual military assistance, exchange of information and assistance in searching for bandits had been
solemnly declared during the month of July 1407. The government of Venice thus conceded Pandolfo more than 12
years of diplomatic and economic support, including the concession of troops, a reduction in the price of salt and cash
loans. See: S. Piasentini, “Le relazioni tra Venezia e Pandolfo III Malatesta nelle fonti veneziane (1404-1421)” and A.
Falcioni, S. Rimedia, “La signoria bresciana di Pandolfo III tra la Serenissima e il Ducato Visconteo: considerazioni
sulla documentazione veneziana”, both in G. Bonfiglio-Dosio, A.Falcioni (editor), see: previous work cited, pp. 177
and following and pp. 219 and following.
17
Debits on sheet Lv (the treasurer’s account for the trimester of September, October and November
1409) one may find the inscription with which the distribution of the loan of 20.000 ducats (having
the value of 49 soldi and 6 denari each) was conceded by the Doge of Venice Michele Steno:
Item predictus Ioachinus Malagonella de Florencia texaurarius extraordinarius magnifici et excelsi
domini …(debet dare quos recepit)…
Ab illustri et excelsa dominatione Venetorum sive domino Michaele Steno Veneziarum duce de
mense septembris, portatos per Veri de Castilione de Florencia duchatos 20.000 auri ad computum
solidorum 49 denariorum 6 pro quolibet, folio 301 a tergo
Libras 49.500 solidos 041
Part of this sum (about 6.383 ducats, equalling 15.638 lire) was then in realty delivered to
Pandolfo’s brother, Malatesta Malatesti, as is attested to in the entry in the treasurer’s account under
Credits on sheet XLVIIIv:
(Ioachinus Malagonella de Florencia texaurarius…) debet habere…
Item quos dedit, solvit et numeravit infrascriptis provisionatis et familiaribus curie domini de
mensibus septembris, octubris et novembris anni presentis super eorum provisionibus et salariis,
scriptos eis in debito in isto in foliis infrascriptis videlicet :
…
Magnifico et excelso domino domino Malateste de Malatestis de denariis habitis Veneziis
folio CCXLVIIII° a tergo
Libras 15.638 solidos It is true that one may find in Malatesta Malatesti’s account, under Credits in paper no.
CCXLVIIII°v, the debiting note for this sum:
Item prefatus magnificus dominus dominus Malatesta de malatesti debet dare…
…
Item scriptos in credito Ioachino Malagonelle de Florencia texaurario extraordinario domini
in isto in folio XLVIII a tergo in ratione septembris, octubris et novembris et fuerunt de denariis
habitis a dominatione Venetorum
Libras 15.638 solidos –
The difference of 33.862 lire evidently remained at Pandolfo’s disposal and the inscriptions
again tell us (on sheets XLVIIIv, XLVIIIIr and v, Lr and v) that , during the trimester to which
reference is being made, considerable sums were spent to pay the captains and lance-bearing
soldiers, for example: captain Gianni Abate of Manfredonia (5.273), Niccolò Mauruzi from
Tolentino (4.292 lire), Giovanni of Tursi (including compensation in arrears for a total of
13.646 lire), Brother Ruffino of Mantova (4.746 lire), Andrea from Lugo and Scalabrino from
Treviso (3.858 lire)42 . To these sums was added the expense of 1.156 lire for their stay in Venice.
The other episode concerns the taking possession by Pandolfo III, in June 1408, of the
Commune of Bergamo, which nominally belonged to the Duchy of Milan although governed by
Sir Giovanni Ruggero Suardi. The Commune of Bergamo had to pay the Suardi for the custody of
41
Considering that the lire was worth 20 soldi and one soldo was equal to 12 denari, the total sum emerging
from the following calculation is : (20.000 x 49) : 20 + (20.000 x 6) : 12 : 20 = 49.500. Under Credits in account 48v we
find inscribed the transfer of a part of this sum, i.e. 15.638 lire, to Pandolfo’s brother Malatesta Malatesti.
42
It is possible to point out that, from other documents (See: A. Falcioni, S. Rimedia, preceding text cited, p.
225 and pp. 265-266) it emerges that the money served to draft about 1000 lance-bearing soldiers to be used against the
French.
18
the forts of the cities they kept, but did not have the necessary sum. Pandolfo offered to pay this
sum, himself turning to loans from the nobles, citizens and bankers of Venice, families in Fano, etc..
The debt towards the Suardi was thus paid by Pandolfo Malatesta, who naturally passed it on to be
paid by Commune of Bergamo itself. The delivery of the fortresses of the city and the district
occurred in June 1408, on the request of the Duke of Milan and by means of a formal agreement
between Giovanni Suardi and Pandolfo’s Procurator, Giovanni of Iseo.
Several sheets from register no. 42 contain the Debits and Credits of various people (ex. the
Podestà of Brescia, Liverotto Ferretti, the Vicar general Ugolino de’ Pili of Fano, the stewards
Tonino of Nigoline and Niccolò of the Feroldi, etc.) who had received the money for these forced
loans, turning them over, then, to the family of the noble lord Giovanni of the Suardi of Bergamo
for the purchase of this city. It is possible to ascertain, indeed, on sheet 217 that the debiting of the
Commune of Bergamo for a total of 30.000 gold ducats occurred, of which 25.000 paid by Venice,
the aforesaid sum constituting the price of that city.
The other part of this amount (5.000 gold ducats equalling 11.250 lire) turns out to be
credited to the account of treasurer Malagonella in our register no. 43, under the Credits section of
sheet no. 27r (June 1408), as a transfer to Giovanni Suardi “scriptos in debito comuni Pergami in
libro viridi prestantiarum in folio 217”43 . Under the Debits in the same account on page 27r appear
two amounts (10.775 lire, 18 soldi, 3 denari and 401 lire, 14 soldi) which are close to this sum:
indeed they are the very sums collected “in moneta auri, argenti et planetis” by Niccolò of Feroldi
(percentage-cut steward for the purchase of Bergamo).
5. Conclusions
Given the above inscription it is naturally appealing for the scholar to wish to deepen his/her
knowledge of the connection between study of the accounting entries of past centuries and the
interpretation given to historical facts of a social and political nature which emerge from these facts.
This may be done by referring, in particular, to certain accounting registers from the beginning of
the 15th century that belong to the Malatesta Code series present in the Historical Archives of the
central Italian City of Fano. This is only one example of how the primary documentation which
may be found among the accounting registers may contribute to completing the description and
interpretation of historical facts, lending increased objectivity and precision to historical research
per se.
In particular from the study of register no. 43 (Liber viridis rationum curie domini), it is
possible to observe how simple accounting inscriptions can turn out to be decisive not only to
understanding certain facts and events of a political nature that occurred during Italian history in the
1400s but also for reconstructing the fundamental economic character of the Malatesta State, the
political relationships between the power of a ruling noble and the power of the local community, of
the structures and of the limits placed on local self government, to the nature of the noble lord’s
interventionist policies – above of in the fiscal field – starting from the commercial activities
(through the knowledge of entire dense set of rules, of the movement of goods, of activities, of
customs). Finally due to the relevance of the phenomenon in the political life of the State and the
stamp put on it by its ruler, as well as its economic importance in the Malatesta and personal
income of a certain number of its subjects, contracts in which the leadership in military campaigns
is conferred become highly important – this, thanks to the large amount of information contained in
the accounting registers regarding payments, the details of such leadership contracts, the earnings
43
As G.P. Scharf pointed out in “La signoria malatestiana a Bergamo”, in G. Bonfiglio-Dosio, A. Falcioni,
previous work cited, p. 447, the considerable sum of 11, 250 lire was probably a sort of compensation of the Bergamo
area for the “loss of the Ponte San Pietro castle, which was not included in the original agreements, but that Malatesta
strongly wanted to keep just the same.”
19
that the Malatesti made from them, and the necessity to ready fortified buildings existing in key
locations throughout the territory.
The hope expressed herein is that it become possible increase, through the commitment of
other scholars to the task, the amount of transcription and research of the other accounting registers
kept in Fano; the latter should, however, correspond to a different type of ledger than the “rationum
curie domini”. Such an occurrence could certainly represent the impetus for gains in Accounting
History Studies and Economic History studies more in general.
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economica, Marzorati, Milan.
Zerbi, Tommaso (1993): “Il Liber tabulle rationum nella economia viscontea del ‘300”, in Summit
09, special supplement to issue n. 76 of the magazine Summa, December.
Massimo Ciambotti is full professor of Planning and Control of the University of Urbino “Carlo
Bo” and Dean of the Faculty of Economics in the same University. His e-mail is:
[email protected]
Massimo Ciambotti è professore ordinario di Programmazione e Controllo nell’Università degli
Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo” e Preside della Facoltà di Economia nella stessa Università. Il suo
indirizzo e-mail è: [email protected]
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