Inherent in the Grolier Club’s extensive collection is the Lisa Unger Baskin Exhibition which showcases a land grant from the thirteenth century. The scribal parchment is the collections’ oldest item, dated back to the 9th of March in 1240. Signed by Ildenbrandinus de Navacchio, this document expresses a posthumous request from Marcus (Archbishop of Pisa) to Frater Baldiccione. Unexpectedly, it was the Archbishop’s wife Ugolinella who executed the request. This document requests for a vegetable garden and communal home for repentant prostitutes to be built between a tannery and a cemetery. It is believed this request funded the Sorores Repentite Hospitalis S. Marie Magdalene de Spina. Such sanctuaries were built in homage to Mary Magdalene during a twelfth century campaign to rehabilitate prostitutes. As was standard within medieval Italy, such institutions were regularly funded through private means.
The parchment, while incredibly well preserved for an eight hundred year old artifact, shows notable signs of decay. The ink had a faded quality and the parchment itself wrinkles at the bottom as if exposed to water. The majority of tears are present on the left border of the document with smaller nicks spread sparingly along the outer edges. There are considerable signs of foxing as well due to the document’s advanced age. Hand written in beautiful Italian cursive, the print is even and measured. One point worth noting is the proportionately large and overtly decorative “E” in the bottom left portion of the document.
The artifact is a wonderful symbol that illustrates that the past can be preserved. Furthermore, observing such an artifact grants a fresh perspective to the past. Sanctuaries for former prostitutes as described in this parchment may seem anachronistic when compared to the dating but the liberal sentiment it expresses is quite admirable.
Works Cited
- [Grant of land in Pisa, Italy, to Frater Baldiccione, signed Ildenbrandinus de Navacchio, 9 March 1240], [Italy]: 9 March 1240, Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed April 27, 2020, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/3933
- Richter, Barbara Basbanes. “Lisa Unger Baskin Exhibition at Duke University Chronicles 500 Years of Women’s Work.” Fine Books & Collections, www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/lisa-unger-baskin-exhibition-duke-university-chronicles-500-years-womens-work .
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