Small archive of correspondence from the Gran Duchy of Tuscany concerning slaves, in Italian, manuscripts on paper [Italy, second half of sixteenth century and first two decades of seventeenth century]

Small archive of correspondence from the Gran Duchy of Tuscany concerning slaves, in Italian, manuscripts on paper [Italy, second half of sixteenth century and first two decades of seventeenth century]

8 letters (some on bifolia, 2 attached to each other by stitches, another on a half-page), all in Italian, copies marked copia where appropriate, some small stains and browned edges, slight ink-burn in places, overall good and presentable condition, mostly 300 by 210mm.

A small archive of letters (or contemporary copies of them), concerning negotiations for the purchase of slaves in Livorno, Palermo and further afield. They are mostly addressed to the Gran Duca di Toscana, here either Cosimo I de Medici (reigned 1537-69), his son Francesco I (reigned 1574-87), his brother Ferdinando I (reigned 1587-1609), or the opening years of the latters son, Cosimo II. One letter discusses the demands of an Assan dOssain de Mansia who is probably a slave trader, perhaps from Mansia in Noor Mahal, Pakistan. Another letter from Jacomo Cini di Montepulciano, and dated 1611, discusses the manumission of slaves as a charitable act.