Italian Renaissance. Three documents by ducal scribes, in Italian and Latin, Pavia, 1468 and Ferrara, 1489

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE DOCUMENTS

Three documents by ducal scribes, in Italian and Latin, on paper, Pavia, 1468 and Ferrara, 1489, comprising:

(1) Letter in Italian, signed ‘Mattheus de Contugiis Vult[erris]’: ‘Carissimo … Perche el mi bisogna transferire a Roma …’, dated at Ferrara, 7 December 1489; endorsed in Latin and Italian, ‘Domino Benedicto Dei civi Florentii’, and ‘In Fiorenze in mano del Mag.o oratore di Ferrara’. c.185 x 190mm, with another blank sheet pasted to it, adding c.85mm. to the height, eight lines of text in a fine semi-cursive Humanistic script; some folds and stains, one corner clipped.

(2) Grant in Latin from Galeazzo Maria Sforza (d. 1476), Duke of Milan from 1466 until his death, allowing Antonio Guasco, citizen of Alessandria (south-west of Pavia), and his firstborn son, the right to bear the ducal dog-and-pine impresa (‘donamus, concedimus, et elargimur insignia nostra canis et pini’), dated at Pavia, 14 July 1468. c.415 x 295mm, seven lines of text in a fine semi-cursive Humanistic script, with the Duke of Milan’s heraldic seal in red wax covered by a lozenge of paper, signed ‘Cichugi’ with flourishes; with three horizontal and two vertical folds, some foxing.

(3) Apparently a postscript cut from the bottom of a letter, in Italian; endorsed in an 18th-(?)century hand ‘Cicco Simonetta, decapitato da Lod.(ovico) Duca di Milano’ to which has been added (19th(?)-century) ‘Carattere del Conte(?) Giberto Borromeo che mi ha ceduto per L.5’. Francesco (Cicco) c.145 x 200mm, a heading and three lines of text, also signed ‘Cichugi’; with insignificant folds, one small hole, and small tear at bottom edge

Matteo de’ Contugi of Volterra was a famous and highly regarded scribe who worked for Federico da Montefeltro. Simonetta (1410–1480) was an Italian Renaissance statesman.