Here we provide you with the basic tips on how to use the search tools in our database.
There are many ways of searching the ledgers BUT it is not possible to search the Bruges ledger and the London ledger at the same time. You must choose either the Bruges ledger for the calendar year 1438 or the London ledger for 1436-38 (in this case all three years can be searched at once or you can choose individual years, that is, 1436, 1437 or 1438). The (monetary) value given in all transactions is pound sterling for the London ledger and Flemish pound for the Bruges ledger.
If the Keyword field is left blank in any of the searches, the whole list of items will appear as a result. A Keyword does not need to be complete: pieces of words are also searchable.
In the second search page (not the one present on the Homepage, but the one appearing after the first search), below the ‘Keywords’ box you can select ‘Exact match’. If you do so, the search will return only transactions containing that word. E.g. in Folio Narrative, a search for ‘tin’ without ticking Exact match will also return words like ‘Ubertino’, ‘writing’, etc.; ticking ‘Exact match’ will limit the search to ‘tin’ only.
After navigating the search results, clicking on ‘The Borromei Bank Research Project’ (top-left of any page) will bring you back to the initial search form.
This method allows you to search by the specific name of an account holder (individual or company). Sometimes the profession (e.g., mercer, haberdasher, grocer, vintner etc.) or the place of origin (e.g., of Cologne, Breton, Fleming, of Venice, Florence, or Milan) is given.
As a reference, the complete list of Account Holders can be downloaded from the Indexes section.
This search may result in one single line or in multiple lines (if there is more than one match for the search). If you click on ‘View accounts’, you obtain the list of all accounts of a single account holder; if you click on the account name, you obtain all the transactions for that particular account. If, however, after the first search, you click on ‘View transactions’, you get the list of all the transactions of all the accounts of that account holder.
This search allows to find people who were involved in complex operations, such as Bills of exchange or Trade. Clicking on the name you generate the list of transactions (that may belong to different accounts).
Sometimes a person is barely mentioned in one of the ledgers, and therefore does not appear in this search; however, he/she can be searched for via the Folio Narrative search (see below). It is advisable to perform a Folio Narrative search also for the names that appear in the Participants (Non Account) search.
As a reference, the complete list of Participants can be downloaded from the Indexes section.
This searches account headings: they can be names, but also merchandises, expenses, cash, profit and loss, etc. Moreover, account headings can include the indication of the type of account (current account, conto a parte, conto nostro, conto loro, conto nuovo, conto vecchio, etc.), or other details, because account holders may have multiple accounts.
This allows you to search for any word (or fragment of word) within the text of the translated entries. The result will be a list of accounts in which transactions contain the relevant word. A click on the account name will lead to the transaction(s) containing the word in that account.
As mentioned above, in the second search page (not the one present on the Homepage, but the one appearing after the first search), below the ‘Keyword/s’ box you can select ‘Exact match’. If you do so, the search will return only transactions containing that word. E.g. a search for ‘tin’ without ticking Exact match will also return words like ‘Ubertino’, ‘writing’, etc.; ticking Exact match will limit the search to ‘tin’ only.
It is also possible to search for multiple words (or fragment of words) to see if they appear in the same transaction. For example, if you search for ‘silk’ that will produce all transactions containing that word. If, however, you search for ‘Rapondi silk’, then the results will contain only Rapondi’s silk transactions.
Once the Search is run, the results page will also include (on the left-hand side of the page) filters that could be used to narrow down the Search:
Account holders’ (or Participants’) location
Will allow you to select all the Account holders (or Participants) who are resident (or operate) in a specific place.
Transaction type
Within the transactions, you will be able to select only specific transaction types (or to exclude specific transaction types, by selecting all the others): most popular filters are Bills of exchange and Trade. The transaction type is also indicated by a 4-digit code after the date in any transaction.
As a reference, the complete list of Transaction types (and codes) can be downloaded from the Indexes section.
When you get to the list of transactions, you have several options:
From a list of transactions it is possible to see the image of the original document by clicking on the blue square next to the folio number (the image will open in a new Tab, which is displayed at the top of the page, second Tab from the left).
The images cannot be downloaded without the permission of the Borromeo-Arese family.
Video 01 - Introduction
Video 02 - Search by Account Holders
Video 03 - Search by Participants
Video 04 - Search by Folio Narrative
Video 05 - Exact Match