2006

Edward L. Goldberg

  • Senior Fellow
  • The Medici Archive Project
Picture of Edward L. Goldberg

Project

Between Court and Ghetto in Early Seventeenth-Century Florence: A Critical Edition of Letters from Benedetto Blanis to Don Giovanni dei Medici

Program

ACLS Fellowship Program

Abstract

In the Archive of the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany in Florence, Italy, there is a remarkable series of approximately 200 letters from Benedetto Blanis to Don Giovanni dei Medici, running from June 20, 1615 until October 23, 1620. Though these letters remain unknown to scholars, they offer crucial new insights into social history, cultural history, economic history, legal history, history of science and Jewish history in Early Modern Europe. This project may yield a full critical edition of this documentary material, bringing it into the mainstream of current scholarship.