Lhe research by Ornella Tommasi, historian and author of the book, traces the history of a Paduan family ininvestigated through his archival legacy, deposited in the State Archives of Padua.
The Lion family (who have lived permanently since 1346 in the center of the city of Padua, in the district of Santa Lucia, in a Domus Magna a few steps from the Palazzo del Signore, residence of the de Carraras and seat of government ) such is the theme of the book, between the rise of the Signoria dei Carraresi in the fourteenth century and the advent of the domino of Venice in 1405, he almost constituted the personification of the new state powers that assert themselves over the traditional community institutions. Public finance acquires a central role, a true and proper hallmark of the new reality of the state, no matter whether under a republican or aristocratic regime.
The beautiful work of Ornella Tommasi – writes Riccardo Fubini – “Tprove its limit which is also its privileged point of view, to be based on the archive of eminent family of money changers and bankers. The Lions, who increased their condition in close harmony with the affirmation of the Lordship of the Carraresi, maintained it and then raised it further with the advent of Venetian rule. In the war situation of the early XNUMXth century, they provided to the Serenissima the heavy purpose required for the payment of the militias. In this way they became related to Captain Gattamelata who had established his last home in Padua. The careful investigation of the relatives of the Lions in Venice (Soranzo, Capello, Priuli) demonstrates how they had in fact been co-opted into the bank system of the capital, that is, into government finance. "
The Lions invested their wealth in land and real estate, but their main activity – at least throughout the fourteenth century – is that of merchants of silk and wool products, and they are active on their own behalf and at the service of the Signoria. In fact, they have a warehouse of their own, on the ground floor of theirs Domus magna and they have facilities scattered throughout the city, along the many waterways. Things change during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, so much so that they are no longer indicated as mercatores, how much rather noble. They appear increasingly at the center of the city's economic life not only because they produce and deal with goods in their business, but because they handle a lot of money, also managing a "exchange status” i.e. a bank. Many coins circulate in the Paduan market, being an important market square and cultural pole in which professors and students come from numerous and different locations in the Italian peninsula and Europe. With bank management, Lions are authorized to lend money officially, and as recognized credit operators. This means that the interest rates, loan methods, and loan terms for Lions are regulated and recognized by city government authorities. Their credit activity is documented starting from the second half of the fourteenth century. From 1355 to 1506 they keep in their hands the booth under the Palazzo della Ragione, and the exchange status in the upper floor.
Lions, as executive members of the Padua City Council, under the Venetian government, intervene in the credit sector in public debt hedging operations, when from Venice, the political and economic center of the Venetian mainland, the city of Padua received urgent requests for huge mortgages to be covered against the military expenses incurred by the Venetian government. In practice, the Lions carry out a treasury service in Padua which Venice entrusts "exclusively" to them – true owners of this business – in relation to the quotas established by the government for war expenses to be covered by the city of Padua. In short, the Lion family's involvement in the credit market at the service of the government takes place in numerous strategic and vital sectors for the very existence of the city. and all this series of tasks in the service of city power, through the handling of a lot of money, is also reflected in the marriage policy of the Lions. The sought-after fruit of this ongoing commitment to governing Lions in the shadow of finance, at the service of the Serenissima, it is thus to be considered the marriage of Francesco Lionello Lion with a niece of Gattamelata's wifeand an relationship between the Gattamelata and the Lions that from a financial basis, thus becomes familiar. The foundation of the Monte di Pietà in Padua with – management entrusted to the Lions – was approved by the municipal council on 5 April with the approval of the Doge of Venice.
Through the dynamics of the Lion family, we also got to know their city, Padua, better, in its economic transformations, demographic trends and government actions. Actions that unfold in the hands of these Paduan nobles, in particular in the city hospitals and in the creation of the pawnshop. The Lions also had relationships with Jewish loan companies run by the City. For this reason, the Monte di Pietà, although decreed as early as 1469, had to wait to be activated until 1491, thanks to the action of bishop Pietro Barozzi. And finally, the dominion of the Serenissima undoubtedly had in the Lions, always in the forefront of city government and treasury management, the most important pivots in their strategies of political, economic and social power between the fourteenth, fifteenth and first half of the XNUMXth century.
But from the second half of the fifteenth century the family strategy changed completely. In fact, in this phase the Lions, unlike in previous decades, see new unions with families mostly of the Paduan nobility, and as such residing in the city. The biographies of some Lions, both men and women, have been reconstructed which, although still partial in some cases, have nonetheless enriched the history of the entire family with details.
All branches of the family are listed in detail in the book.
Ornella Thomasi: graduated from the University of Padua in Medieval History, she devoted systematic studies to the Archive of the Paduan family of the Lions. This was the subject she developed in her doctoral thesis in Medieval History at the University of Florence. She is the author of various articles concerning the age between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age, in the following fields: history of credit, history of the family, history in general, history of justice.
