The Grand Ducal Medici and their archive (1537-1743)
By: edited by Alessio Assonitis, Brian Sandberg
Contributors: Dall'Aglio, Stefano, 1970-; Medici Archive Project
Series: The Medici Archive Project series; Medici Archive Project series
Publisher: Harvey Miller Publishers
Published: 2016
Place of publication: London
Language: eng; ita
Number of pages: 222
ISBN-13: 9781909400344
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Archives; History; Foreign relations; Archiv; Gro€herzogtum; Quelle
Description: "The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive offers a unique window into early modern Florentine society through an exploration of the archives of the Medici ruling family. Teeming with circa three million letters, the archival collection of the Medici grand dukes housed at the Archivio di Stato in Florence chronicles the culture and history of Europe and beyond, across a span of over two hundred years. The letters of this collection, known as the Mediceo del Principato, embrace a great variety of themes including diplomacy, art,  medicine, food, science, and warfare. Since its contents originate from a court archive that served both the state and a ruling family, this collection comprises administrative, political, and financial correspondence, as well as more private and intimate accounts of the Medici themselves and their activity at court. At the same time, it would be a great misconception to assume that this enormous archival corpus pertains just to Florence or just to the Medici, given that the vast majority of these missives were written by ambassadors, agents, and informants stationed throughout Europe. This volume, The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive, aims to unlock not only the complex structure of the Mediceo del Principato but also the richness of its content. The sixteen essays address a variety of topics--book history, Ottoman relations, collections of New World artifacts, medical history, gender studies, and material culture--all with direct reference to the Medici grand duchy. The original research that supports these studies was drawn in part from the Medici Archive Project's online platform (BIA) for querying over 350,000 digitized and/or transcribed letters. Making use of these and other original sources, the essays in The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive shed new light on the mechanisms and strategies that enabled Florence to emerge from decades of internecine conflict and diplomatic chaos in order to enjoy cultural and political prominence"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contributions in English and Italian.
Table of contents: title: The revenge of the Emperor: rewriting the story of Lorenzino de' Medici's assassination / Stefano Dall'Aglio; title: Cosimo I de' Medici and his library / alessio Assonitis; title: Le 'spoglie' invisibili: note a margine di alcuni documenti relativi al reimpiego dei materiali nei cantieri fiorentini di Giorgio Vasari / Francesca Funis; title: "When he becomes pope": the rise and fall of don Luis de Toledo at the Medici Court (1545-1579) / Anatole Tchikine; title: Jacobiglio Hebreo: mercante, antiquario, informatore di Cosimo I de' Medici / Piergabriele Mancuso; title: Political meddling in women's lives: Sienese and Florentine solutions in difficult times (1490-1560) / Elena Brizio; title: The contributions of Medici women to medicine in Grand Ducal Tuscany and beyond / Sheila Barker; title: Sofonisba Anguissola, Francesco de' Medici and Chiappino Vitelli: a lady-in-waiting, a prince and a general at the Spanish Court / Maurizio Arfaioli; title: The riches of the Indies: Francesco and Ferdinando de' Medici and the Americas / Lia Markey; title: "Al certo che questa corte ha un bel misto": mapping the artistic relations between the Medici and the Savoia / Roberta Piccinelli; title: Jachia ben Mehmet and the Medici Court / Mark Rosen; title: Donna Livia's new clothes / Brendan Dooley; title: Of mothers and aunts: regency government and performance in early modern France and Tuscany under Maria de' Medici and Christine de Lorraine / Brian Sandberg; title: A grand duchess and her painters as matchmakers: Maria Magdalena of Austria, Tiberio Titi, Giusto Suttermans and the betrothal of Empress Eleonora Gonzaga / Lisa Goldenberg Stoppato; title: Florentine avvisi and diplomatic correspondence from London, 1614-22 / Lisa Kaborycha; title: A Medici agent's newsletters to Florence during the Leghorn Crisis of 1653 / Nicholas Brownless.