List of the Grand Tax (Magna Gabelle) of Ferrara, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [Italy (Ferrara), mid- to late fifteenth century]

6 leaves, each 280mm. by 200mm., complete, 34-35 lines in a humanistic script (written space: 220mm. by 130mm.), one-line initials in brown ink at the beginning of each paragraph, the first with ornate interlocking pen-flourishing in the upper margin, including a detailed line-drawn dragon at its outer corner, small number of near-contemporary additions, first leaf rubbed and faded but legible, some stains and folds, small area torn away from margin of fol.1, else good condition

Renaissance Ferrara, unlike that of its more prosperous neighbours such as Milan under the Visconti and Sforza or Florence under the Medici, drew most of its income from traditional agricultural means. It was not a focal point for trade, and never experienced a boom in commercial banking, and yet the Este dukes, notably under Leonello (1407-50, duke from 1441) and Borso (1413-71, duke from 1450), both art collectors and bibliophiles, set out to make Ferrara an opulent jewel of the Italian Renaissance.

This was primarily achieved through the introduction of tolls on goods transported along the River Po, taxes on goods manufactured in Ferrara, and most importantly on luxury goods manufactured elsewhere and brought into Ferrara. This booklet contains a fine copy of a long list of taxable luxury goods imported into Ferrara, the Magna or Grossa Gabella (gabella descending from the Arabic word for tax, Qabala). It includes 129 entries specifying the items covered by the tax, including various types of cloth from Milan, Florence, Bologna, Verona and perhaps also Paris (“Pecia panni di parisio”), as well as certain mercantile groups such as the Florentines who were to be particularly scrutinised, listing each commodity with its relevant quantities (“balla”, “storirum”, “centenaries” and “millarius”) and the value of the payments demanded for each unit (measured in “soldos ferrarienses”, “venetos pizolos”, “venetos grossos” and “imperiales”), and ending with the word “Amen” three times across the bottom of the last page. It was lists such as these that built the palaces of Renaissance Ferrara, Leonello’s famous library and paid for the sumptuously illuminated Bible commissioned by Borso (now Moderna, Estense Library, Lat. MSS.422-3).

The marginal additions, especially clarifying those to be paid, show that this was a practical document. However, the use of vellum and a fine humanistic script not usually found in administrative documents suggest that this booklet was intended for a figure of significant influence in Renaissance Ferrara. As Tuochy notes (Herculean Ferrara, 1996, p.24), a comprehensive history of the state finances of Renaissance Ferrara has yet to be written, but the scarce records of its Grand Tax will loom large in any future study.