Capitano, poi Governatore Auditore Vicario

Country

IT

Name of institution (English)

State Archives of Livorno

Name of institution (official language of the state)

Archivio di Stato di Livorno

Language of name of institution

ita

Contact information: postal address

Palazzo del Governo, Via Fiume 40, 57123 Livorno

Contact information: phone number

0039 0586897776

Contact information: web address

http://www.archiviodistatolivorno.beniculturali.it/

Contact information: email

as-li@beniculturali.it

Reference number

Capitano, poi Governatore Auditore Vicario

Type of reference number

Archival reference number

Title (English)

Captain, later Governor and Vicar Auditor

Title (official language of the state)

Capitano, poi Governatore Auditore Vicario

Language of title

ita

Creator / accumulator

Capitano di custodia di Livorno, later Commissario di Livorno, later Governatore di Livorno

Auditore vicario di Livorno

Date(s)

1550/1808

Language(s)

ita

Extent

2,949 storage units (2,908 files and 41 repertories)

Type of material

Textual Material

Scope and content

The Capitano, poi Governatore Auditore Vicario fonds comprises civil and criminal records, as well as correspondence and other documentation produced and related to this governing and judicial body. The documents are organised into 21 series, whose division reflects the original separation between the civil and the criminal chancelleries.
Since the Governatore had jurisdiction over resolving civil and criminal disputes involving Jewish residents in Livorno, this fonds contains abundant evidence on the evolution of the community and its relation with the Christian majority and the local authorities. Series IV: Atti Civili e Supliche, which gathers civil pleas from 1595 to 1800 (most of them, pleas addressed to the Grand Duke, who later redirected them to the Governatore), is particularly rich in documents related to the Jewish community, especially files 2602-2608. Renzo Toaff (1990) transcribed and published some of these records. Information related to the Jewish community is also scattered over other series. Some examples are the following:
Atti civili, 429, no. 203: conditions of the ketubah of Sarah Baruch Carvaglio and Moses Attias in 1667.
Atti civili, 791, no. 361: “Catalogo della libreria da vendesi in Livorno”, including the inventory of Rabbi Joseph Athias' library, sold after his death in 1739.
Atti civili, 850, no. 150: Abraham Ergas accused Giacomo Gazzo, his Genoese supplier, of fraud in selling some lots of coral in 1745.
Atti criminali spezzati, 3084, no. 507: Joseph Penso de Vega was the attorney of his father, Isaac Penso, and of his sisters Johebet and Ribca against a cousin of them, who was executor of the will of his uncle Rafael Vega. August 1, 1681.
Atti criminal spezzati, 3083, fol. 61: Raphael Ergas blamed Moses Athias for the homicide of his brother Abraham Ergas in 1689.
Atti civili spezzati, 2249, no. 953; and 2249, no. 953: records regarding the bankruptcy of Ergas and Silveira firm in April 1747. More documents on the same subject in Cause delegate, 2500.

Archival history

The Auditore maintained a civil and a criminal chancellery. While the civil archive kept its structure from 1550 onwards, the criminal records were disorganised until 1785, when they started to be arranged into series.
These records integrated the collection of the Archivio Storico Cittadino, founded in 1899 with the aim of collecting documentary materials produced and related to Livorno's institutions. Its first curator, Professor Pietro Vigo, was responsible for collecting documentation from Livorno city council and other peripheral state offices, as well as from other public and private institutions. When the Archivio di Stato di Livorno was established in 1941, it inherited a large part of the documentary collections formerly preserved in the Archivio Storico, including the Comune di Livorno's records.

Administrative / Biographical history

The Capitano (Captain) exercised civil and criminal judicial functions, as well as government, police and military powers. In the 16th century, he was renamed as Commissario and later Governatore (governor). The governor presided over the Tribunale di Livorno (Court).
As a result of some uncertainty on the respective competencies, conflicts between the Capitano/Governatore of Livorno and Florentine magistrates triggered by jurisdiction matters were common. In 1566, it was decided that the Capitano would resolve disputes between ship owners and sailors or between sailors, but conflicts between masters and merchants or others would be under the jurisdiction of the Consoli del Mare di Pisa. Eleven years later, an order determined that maritime cases that did not exceed the sum of 15 "scudi" (currency) should be decided in the Tribunale di Livorno, instead of the Consoli del Mare di Pisa court. The patent letter of June 10, 1593, known as the "Livornina", established that civil and criminal disputes between Livorno citizens or between them and other nations' citizens — including the Jewish community — should be under the jurisdiction of the Tribunale di Livorno, presided by the Governatore.
After the early decades of the 17th century, an Auditore (auditor) assisted the governor in its judicial and governing competencies. By virtue of the law of July 18, 1771, the Auditore obtained civil and criminal jurisdictions, being charged with those judicial functions that he had previously performed subordinately to the Governatore. Then, there were two auditors: the Auditore del Governatore, who changed its name to Auditore del Governo, and the Auditore del Tribunale.
During the French government, between 1808 and 1814, the governor and both auditors were suppressed and their judicial jurisdiction distributed to other magistrates. After this period, the Auditore del Governo was re-established with additional competencies.