Regia Camera della Sommaria
Item
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Country
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IT
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Name of institution (English)
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State Archives of Naples
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Language of name of institution
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ita
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Contact information: postal address
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Piazzetta del Grande Archivio 5, 80138 Naples
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Contact information: phone number
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0039 0815638111
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Contact information: email
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as-na@beniculturali.it
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Reference number
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Sommaria
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (English)
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Royal Chamber of the Sommaria
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Title (official language of the state)
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Regia Camera della Sommaria
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Language of title
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ita
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Creator / accumulator
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Regia Camera della Sommaria
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Date(s)
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1386/1807
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Language(s)
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ita
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lat
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spa
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Extent
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c. 29,000 storage units
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Scope and content
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The Regia Camera della Sommaria fonds is organised in seven subfonds, which reflect the activity and functions of this body and the transmission of its documents: Segreteria (Secretariat); Ruote (Rotas); Materia feudale (Feudal matters); Patrimonio (Patrimony); Procedure giudiziarie (Judicial procedures); Dipendenze della Sommaria (Dependencies of the Sommaria); and Diversi (Various).
Among these series, it is possible to find some scattered documents that record the turbulent history of the Jews in Naples. After the banishment of the Jews from Spain in 1492, King Ferdinand protected those who decided to settle in Naples. However, during the French domination in 1495-1510, the persecution against the Jews returned. After Spain recovered control of the city in 1510, the Jewish settlement was only allowed under the condition of paying an amount of 300 ducati to stay. Those who did not pay it were expelled. The pressure over the Jews increased in the following decades and, in the early 1540s, they left Naples. During these first decades of the 16th century, Naples became the home of several Iberian Jewish exiles, whose paths are evidenced in documentation preserved in the Sommaria fonds. For instance, the Partium series of the Segreteria subfonds includes much information on Portuguese and Spanish Jews in Naples and Bari in the late 15th century and first decades of the 16th century, some of them published or simply mentioned in Ferorelli (1915), Colafemmina (1989) or Bonazzoli (1979).
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Archival history
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The Regia Camera della Sommaria aggregates five archives, each one initially with its own curator: the archive of the Segreteria della Camera, comprising the registers of the acts of administrative nature; the Archivio dei Quinternioni, including the registers of the privileges granted by the sovereign in feudal and nobility matters; the Archivio del Cedolario, gathering records on the tax on feudal lords; the Archivio delle significatorie, with documentation related to inheritance matters; and the Archivio del Patrimonio dei Fiscali e degli Arrendamenti, containing deeds of public debt.
In 1701, in the sequence of so-called "congiura del Principe di Macchia" (conspiracy of the Prince of Macchia), the Sommaria archive was attacked, and a part of its records — about 60 documents of the precious registers of the Angevin chancellery — was burnt or dispersed.
After the suppression of the Sommaria during the French domination, its archive was transferred to the Archivio Generale del Regno, established by royal decree on December 22, 1808. In 1845, the renamed Grande Archivio di Napoli was relocated from its headquarters in Castelcapuano to the former monastery of SS. Severino e Sossio. During the Second World War, the collections of the Archivio di Napoli, including the Regia Camera della Sommaria, were seriously damaged.
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(source: Archivio di Stato di Napoli. Banche dati. Regia camera della Sommaria)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The Regia Camera della Sommaria was established by King Alfonso V of Aragon in 1444. It united in a single body the curia magistrorum rationalium and the curia of presidents of Camera dei Conti (Chamber of Auditors). From the 15th century to 1807, the Sommaria was both the body that audited the accounts of the universities and of the state, as well as the court for administrative litigation. It dealt, either as a plaintiff or as a defendant, with all cases related to fiscal affairs in which tax authorities, universities or feudal lords were involved. The Sommaria also exercised advisory functions to the government on financial matters. In 1482, Ferdinand I of Aragon made the Sommaria a supreme court.
At the head of the Camera della Sommaria, there was the Luogotenente del Gran Camerario. The Sommaria also consisted of a group of togaed presidents or commissari, whose areas of competence were divided based on an annual provision called the "commessa generale" (general order). Initially, the Luogotenente and the presidents formed one only rota (court). A second rota was added in 1596, with attributions in matters of accounts, taxes and rents. Finally, in 1637, a third court emerged, with competencies on affairs regarding the universities and land registry. The presidents of the Sommaria also formed ad hoc councils to decide on issues of particular importance.
In 1807, the Sommaria was replaced by a new body, the Regia Corte dei Conti (Royal Court of Auditors). However, the Sommaria's competences on administrative litigation were instead delegated to the Consiglio di Stato (Council of State).
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(source: Archivio di Stato di Napoli. Banche dati. Regia camera della Sommaria)
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Finding aids
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Upublished finding aids available in the archive:
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Martullo, Maria, ed.. post 1956. "Regia Camera della Sommaria". Summary inventory. (no. 0020)
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Other finding aids in the archive's reading room, with the signatures: inv. 20-70; 212; 449-453; 485; 506-511; 513-517.
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Author of the description
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Carla Vieira, 2022
