Notes sur un témoignage inédit : les ricordi du « Libro debitori e creditori » de Giuliano da Gagliano (1503-1521)

Abstract

The cover pages of an account book can sometimes be surprising. So are the memoirs by Giuliano da Gagliano, a Florentine merchant banker close to the Medici. After many years spent in Lyons between 1482 and 1495, he wrote those ricordi between 1503 and 1521, when he was back in Florence. These mostly private notes, in which are recorded the important facts of his family history, also offer a broader perspective on contemporary historical events. The head of the household sometimes becomes a chronicler of the Italian Wars and of the political changes occurring in Florence, which he describes from a Medicean standpoint.