La vita quotidiana nelle corti del Mezzogiorno tardomedievale [Daily life in the courts of late medieval Southern Italy]

Abstract

Angilberto del Balzo, Count of Ugento and Duke of Nardò, was the lastborn child of Francesco del Balzo, Duke of Andria, and Sancia Chiaromonte, sister of Queen Isabella, the wife of Ferrante (king of Naples from 1458 to 1494). His inventories provide evidence of the economic wealth, munificentia and splendor enjoyed by one of the most important families of the fifteenth century feudal aristocracy in southern Italy. The account analyses an undoubtedly valuable source (preserved in the Paris National Library) which, in addition to clarifying various aspects of the count of Ugento’s feudal dominion, also permits the recreation of features of the everyday life, habits and customs of an aristocratic society in thrall to current fashions, attracted by exquisite detail and fond of luxury and ostentation. Some of the items listed in particular constitute a tangible indication of the Balzo family’s status and political power, its economic wellbeing and its place in an echelon which could, and was obliged to, live, appear, eat and dress in opulence. The description of goods and objects in everyday use represents a source of undoubted interest for the history of material culture and, more generally, social history.

Keywords

• daily life
• renaissance courts
• southern italy
• late middle ages
• history
• medieval history
• europe
• italy
• medieval itely
• southern italy
• ugento
• angilberto del balzo
• nardò