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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 Venice
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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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Campo dei Frari, San Polo 3002, 30125 Venice
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Contact information: phone number
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0039 0415222281
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Contact information: email
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as-ve@archivi.beniculturali.it
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Reference number
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Notarile. Atti
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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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Notarial Records. Deeds
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Title (official language of the state)
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Notarile. Atti
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Language of title
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ita
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Creator / accumulator
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Notaries of Venice
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Date(s)
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1361/1829
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Language(s)
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ita
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Extent
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1,549 linear metres (14,560 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 Notarile Atti fonds comprises notarial records from 1361 to 1829. The notarial deeds include different types of documents, such as wills, transactions of goods and properties, peace agreements, "carte di dote" (dowry cards), registers of emancipation, registers of dissolution of fraternities, inventories of inheritances for minors or absent heirs, etc., resulting from the notarial activity in the Republic of Venice in around 70 different towns.
As Venice was the home of a vibrant and numerous Jewish community and, in particular, of several Sephardic families involved in international trade networks, the notarial records provide extensive data on the economic activity of Portuguese and Spanish Jewish merchants. This information is quite scattered but, as Renata Segre (1983) notices, some Venetian notaries were particularly demanded by the Jewish community. For instance, in the 16th century, Pietro Bracchi and Andrea Calzavara worked for decades almost exclusively at the service of Jews.
This fonds has been regularly explored by scholars who study the Jewish community of Venice over its history. For instance, Federica Ruspio (2002) consulted the notarial records produced by Giovanni Battista da Monte, Luca Gabrieli and Giulio Gabrieli in order to trace the path of the Portuguese Converso/Jewish families in Venice, such as the Bas Mondego, the Lopes, the Ribeira or the Cardoso (16th-17th centuries). Francesca Trivellato (2009) identified in this fonds important information on the commercial activities of the Ergas family in Venice and the connections with the family branches settled in Livorno. This fonds also contains documents related to the Mendes Benveniste family, such as a copy of the marriage contract of Diogo Mendes and Brianda de Luna on March 26, 1539 (P. Leoncici, pacco 7818, fols. 183-184). It is also possible to find an appointment made by Reina Benvenisti, alias Marchesa Anriques, an inhabitant of the Ghetto Vecchio (Old Ghetto) of Venice, of Mose Cabillo as her procurator on April 30, 1565 (notaio G.B. Monti, vol. 8252, fol. 9.). Later, the same Reina Benvenisti appointed other procurator, Ysac Cajati, on August 17, 1565. She identified herself as administrator of the goods of her husband and as the procurator of her son Abraham (fols. 17v.-18; Leoni, 2001).
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Archival history
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In the early days, besides the existence of personal archives for each notary, the most important notarial deeds were stored in the Basilica of S. Marco. In the 14th century, the regulations over notaries increased. It is known that, before 1316, it was already mandatory to deliver to the lower chancellery in the Doge's Palace, certain notarial deeds of special importance, as well as those written by the notaries of the city of Venice. This obligation was extended by the Maggior Consiglio (Major Council) to all notaries of the Republic, on March 3, 1364. In addition, on August 18, 1453, the Senate ordered the heirs of the deceased notaries to transfer all notarial records to the Cancelliere inferiore, aiming to abolish the practice of passing them from one notary to another, especially when the records safety was not guaranteed.
In 1772, the existing Notarial Archive was divided. The testaments were moved to an adjoining room of the Doge's Chancellery, while the other notarial deeds were transferred to a room of the Collegio della Milizia da Mar.
After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, this documentation was subjected to some negligence, while being transferred to different institutions. This fonds was finally moved to the Archivio di Stato di Venezia in 1884.
The documentation prior to the 15th century, including scrolls, is very scarce, probably as a consequence of the 1577 fires in Venice, which also affected the Doge's Palace.
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The existence of notaries and the development of a system of written text that acknowledged property and other rights, the ability to transact goods and lands, the possibility of writing testaments, etc., is one of the most important elements to understand the construction of power and the development of new forms of sociability in European history, including in Jewish communities.
In Venice, notarial deeds and archival property became increasingly regulated since the 14th century. For instance, in 1316, the Consiglio Maggior (Major Council) ordered every notary in Venice to deliver to the Cancellaria inferiore all minutes and protocols. In 1453, this obligation was extended to the "notai imperial" (imperial notaries). Later, it was determined that all notarial deeds could remain in the personal archives of each notary when its activity was not compromised, with the exception of testaments. It was a sign of an increasing power held by the Doge of Venice, who became the final holder of the judicial function and guarantor of respect for the rights of individuals and, in particular, of the execution of testamentary wills.
In 1514, the number of notaries in the city of Venice was fixed in 66. Shortly after, a college of notaries was created under the supervision of the "cancellier grande" (great chancellor) and the "cancellieri inferior" (lower chancellors).
After the unification, new Italian legislation in 1875-79 declared that the notaries were "funzionari pubblici" (civil servants), subject to the control of the Camera notarile (Notary Chamber) and the Corte d’appello (Court of Appeals).
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Sources:
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Archivio di Stato di Venezia online database
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Burns, Robert Ignatius. 1996. Jews in the Notarial Culture: Latinate Wills in Mediterranean Spain, 1250-1350. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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System of arrangement
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Prior to 1577, the documentation was placed in miscellanies, without respecting any specific order, probably as a consequence of the fires of that year. Most of the documentation produced afterwards is organized in alphabetic order by notary name. The deeds of individual notaries up to 1807 contain alphabetic indexes, referring to first names of the counterparts.
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Author of the description
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Kevin Soares, 2022
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Bibliography
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Boccato, Carla. 2000. “Rivolti familiari e attività di impresa intorno al «marrano» Gaspar Ribiera.” In L’identità dissimulata: giudaizzanti iberici nell’Europa cristiana dell’età moderna, Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, 297–310. Firenze: L. S. Olschki.
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Frade, Florbela Veiga, and Susana Bastos Mateus. 2003. “Bibliografia sobre a família Mendes Benveniste no século XVI.” Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas 3: 157–84.
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Ruspio, Federica. 2002. “Una comunità di marrani a Venezia.” Zakhor. Rivista di storia degli ebrei d’Italia 5: 53–85.
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Ruspio, Federica. 2007. La Nazione Portoghese: Ebrei Ponentini e Nuovi Cristiani a Venezia. Torino: S. Zamorani.
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Segre, Renata. 1983. “La societá ebraica nelle fonti archivistiche italiane.” In Italia Judaica. Atto del I Convegno internazionale. Bari 18-22 maggio 1981, 239-. Rome: Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali, Pubblicazioni degli Archivi di Stato.
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Trivellato, Francesca. 2009. The Familiarity of Strangers: The Sephardic Diaspora, Livorno, and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period. New Haven London: Yale University Press.
