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  1. Calendar of State Papers, Venice
  2. Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 2, 1509-1519...
  3. Appendix: Miscellaneous 1442

Appendix: Miscellaneous 1442

Page 568

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 2, 1509-1519. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1867.

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Citation:

Miscellaneous 1442

1442. Dec. 31. Notarial Archives, Venice. 1302. Protest for nonpayment of a Bill of Exchange for 150 ducats.
Drawn at Venice at usance on the 26th September 1442, by Francesco Venier and Brothers, sons of the late Santo, on Obertino de Bardi and Company, in London, and payable to themselves; value received in Venice from Chosmo de' Medezi and Company; and to be placed to the account of Marino Velliero, at the exchange of 44½ sterlings per ducat.
Protest registered by the notary public (by Imperial authority), (fn. 1) William Styfford, at his dwelling in Lombard Street, parish of St. Nicholas Aeon, on the 31st December 1442 (Anglican style), “secundum cursum et computacionem Ecclesiaa Anglicanæ,” it being declared that on that day in London, the ducat was worth 41¼ sterling. (fn. 2)
Witnesses: Giovanni Manuche of Venice and Giovanni de Diversis of Lucca.
[Protest in Latin: copy of the bill in the original Italian; parchment. Protest and copy, 26 lines; Notarial signature, 4¼ lines.] (fn. 3)

Footnotes

  • 1. In the 16th century (29 February 1508, and 29 Oct. 1512) it has been shown that the London notary, John Devereux, registered his acts by Holy Apostolic and Imperial authority; whereas in the 15th century the notarial protests made in London, and now preserved in the Venetian Archives, make mention solely of Imperial authority, without any reference to papal licence.
  • 2. The name of the bill-broker is not inserted.
  • 3. The foregoing is the earliest English protest for nonpayment of a bill of exchange hitherto discovered by me in the Venetian Archives. It may be considered a commercial, notarial, and historical curiosity, the act having been registered for account of Cosmo de Medici (pater putriœ), whose firm at Venice bought the bill of Francesco Venier. Cosmo de' Medici, when banished from Florence, resided at Venice during the years 1433, 1434, and 1435, and then returned to Florence, where he died A.D. 1464. (See Macchiavelli and Biographical Dictionaries.)