Biccherna
The Biccherna was active from the 12th century to 1786 and was one of the most important financial administrations of the Republic of Siena .
history
The Biccherna is the oldest and most important financial administration of Siena, which was first documented in 1168 when Asciano was donated by the Scialenghi counts to the Sienese consuls. With this administrative body, the existing imperial and episcopal tax organizations were reorganized. The name is derived from the Blachernen Palace in Kostantinopol , where the imperial treasure was located.
The administration of the Biccherna consisted of five members, namely a treasurer and four office heads, who remained in office for the duration of one semester. The treasurer was the highest person appointed by the Concistoro and selected from among the members of various monastic orders until 1350. This theoretically guaranteed independence of the administration from the large families. The heads of office, on the other hand, were lay people from the powerful families of the city who were appointed by the Consiglio and belonged to the Concistoro. The administration of the Bicchberna also included: notaries, judges, scribes, archive administrators, messengers and guards.
The Biccherna was responsible for the entire financial administration of the city throughout the 13th and most of the 14th century. Entries and exits were recorded in various account books and handed over to the Consiglio for review at the end of the period. The tasks have changed over time. At a later date, they were also responsible for the safekeeping of the confiscated weapons, the books on prisoners and debtors, the lists of notaries and those persons who could not be elected to public office. The Biccherna also had to pay alms to the churches and monasteries.
After the Biccherna lost its financial importance for the city in the 14th century, they were entrusted with special tasks. After the city's first general land registry was drawn up in 1316 , it had to keep the land registry up to date in books called "Tavola delle possessioni".
After the end of the reign of the Nine (1360), the Biccherna were given other duties, including managing all exits. Another innovation was that the treasurer was chosen from among the laypeople and remained in office for one year, while the chief officers' term of office was six months. The Medici reform initially left the area of responsibility of the Biccherna unchanged, but significantly reduced its importance. Under Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, the Biccherna was suppressed as part of a general reform.
museum
 Biccherna from 1380 |
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Archivio di Stato Siena
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The name of the Sienese administration was also used for the panels, painted with religious and civil scenes and portraits, with which the account books of the Biccherna and Gabella were bound. At the end of a term of office, the term of office was covered with a wooden cover and painted with a coat of arms and a scene, sometimes with a sacred or symbolic theme, or in connection with an event of particular importance that happened during that term.
Each of these panels is dated from 1258 to 1682. It is a series of exceptional documentary value in history and town planning, alongside the artistic value of the painted panels, sometimes by the greatest Sienese artists.
The Biccherna archive was originally located in the rooms next to the church of S.Pellegrino. When the head office was moved to S.Cristoforo, all documents from other Sienese offices were also collected there. At the end of the 13th century, the first attempt was made to set up a public archive in the town hall. The entire camp was in an extremely chaotic state and inventories were not made until the beginning of the 15th century. Under Napoleon I , the registers were transported to Paris and only partially brought back to Siena after a restoration. Thanks to the efforts of Abbot De Angelis, all the material available in 1858 , together with the notarial archive, was transferred to the new state archive.
The first of 124 panels is the one with the image of Brother Ugo, the monk of San Galgano, and was made by Gilio di Pietro around 1258 . The oldest paintings are the only reliable documents by Sienese painters before Duccio , such as Dietisalvi di Speme and Guido di Graziano.
The motif initially depicted the chamberlain in his activities, often with a bow on his back, which represents the meeting room, accompanied by the coats of arms of the four heads of office and an inscription with names and official dates. In the 14th century, religious themes alternated ( Circumcision of Jesus by Luca di Tommè , 1357 ; Holy Trinity , attributed to Niccolò di Bonaccorso, 1367 ) or civil ( Good Government, 1344 ; the offer of homage ) and, in the 15th century, the presentation of contemporary events ( Coronation of Pope Pius II of Vecchietta , 1460 ; the Virgin protects Siena from the earthquake by Francesco di Giorgio Martini ). The paintings were later carried out without the function of covers for accounting documents, but as paintings that were hung on the walls and took on the most varied of shapes and proportions. The important events of the time were also always the subject of much discussion ( destruction of the Spanish fortress by the Sienese by Giorgio di Giovanni, 1552 ), as well as religious scenes ( mystical wedding of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Catherine of Siena by Domenico Beccafumi ).
Almost all of the Biccherna's tablets are kept in the Siena State Archives, but a few dozen, often inherited from the families of the officials who painted them, ended up on the antique market and are now scattered in foreign museum collections, particularly in London , Berlin , in Chatsworth , in Budapest and New York .
literature
- Alessandro Lisini : Le tavolette dipinte di Biccherna e di Gabella del R. Archivio di stato in Siena . Tip. Sordomut, 1901.
- Archivio di Stato, Siena, Museo delle Biccherne (= Archivi italiani ). ISSN 1592-2111 .
- Marco Pierini: Arte a Siena . Florence 2004, ISBN 88-8117-078-7 , pp. 22-23 .
- Enzo Carli : Le Tavolette di Biccherna e di altri uffici dello Stato di Siena . Electa Editrice, Milan, Florence 1950.
Related articles
Web links
- Biccherna Museum ( it )
- La collezione completa ( it )