Rediscovering Identity in the Past

Inventories as Sources for the Memories of the Visconti-Sforza Families (Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries)

Abstract

Did European aristocratic families retain memories of their past? It would seem obvious to answer this question in the affirmative, and yet the Lombard case is less straightforward, as after entering the Habsburg system in 1535 Milanese aristocracy experienced memory issues. However, not all grand Lombard families forget their past, as shown by specific past-related objects recorded in the inventories of the Sforza of Caravaggio and some branches of the Visconti family. The quality of inventories as sources for the memories of families are at the centre of this chapter.