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Volume Volume2\Miscellaneous Notes

Entry# 1566. Leonardo's Will.

Contents: Vol. 1 | Vol. 2

Leonardo's Will.

Be it known to all persons, present and to come that at the court of

our Lord the King at Amboise before ourselves in person, Messer

Leonardo da Vinci painter to the King, at present staying at the

place known as Cloux near Amboise, duly considering the certainty of

death and the uncertainty of its time, has acknowledged and declared

in the said court and before us that he has made, according to the

tenor of these presents, his testament and the declaration of his

last will, as follows. And first he commends his soul to our Lord,

Almighty God, and to the Glorious Virgin Mary, and to our lord Saint

Michael, to all the blessed Angels and Saints male and female in

Paradise.

Item. The said Testator desires to be buried within the church of

Saint Florentin at Amboise, and that his body shall be borne thither

by the chaplains of the church.

Item. That his body may be followed from the said place to the said

church of Saint Florentin by the _collegium_ of the said church,

that is to say by the rector and the prior, or by their vicars and

chaplains of the church of Saint Denis of Amboise, also the lesser

friars of the place, and before his body shall be carried to the

said church this Testator desires, that in the said church of Saint

Florentin three grand masses shall be celebrated by the deacon and

sub-deacon and that on the day when these three high masses are

celebrated, thirty low masses shall also be performed at Saint

Gregoire.

Item. That in the said church of Saint Denis similar services shall

be performed, as above.

Item. That the same shall be done in the church of the said friars

and lesser brethren.

Item. The aforesaid Testator gives and bequeaths to Messer Francesco

da Melzo, nobleman, of Milan, in remuneration for services and

favours done to him in the past, each

Footnote: See page 420.

and all of the books the Testator is at present possessed of, and

the instruments and portraits appertaining to his art and calling as

a painter.

Item. The same Testator gives and bequeaths henceforth for ever to

Battista de Vilanis his servant one half, that is the moity, of his

garden which is outside the walls of Milan, and the other half of

the same garden to Salai his servant; in which garden aforesaid

Salai has built and constructed a house which shall be and remain

henceforth in all perpetuity the property of the said Salai, his

heirs and successors; and this is in remuneration for the good and

kind services which the said de Vilanis and Salai, his servants have

done him in past times until now.

Item. The said Testator gives to Maturina his waiting woman a cloak

of good black cloth lined with fur, a ... of cloth and two ducats

paid once only; and this likewise is in remuneration for good

service rendered to him in past times by the said Maturina.

Item. He desires that at his funeral sixty tapers shall be carried

which shall be borne by sixty poor men, to whom shall be given money

for carrying them; at the discretion of the said Melzo, and these

tapers shall be distributed among the four above mentioned churches.

Item. The said Testator gives to each of the said churches ten lbs.

of wax in thick tapers, which shall be placed in the said churches

to be used on the day when those said services are celebrated.

Item. That alms shall be given to the poor of the Hotel-Dieu, to the

poor of Saint Lazare d'Amboise and, to that end, there shall be

given and paid to the treasurers of that same fraternity the sum and

amount of seventy soldi of Tours.

Item. The said Testator gives and bequeaths to the said Messer

Francesco Melzo, being present and agreeing, the remainder of his

pension and the sums of money which are owing to him from the past

time till the day of his death by the receiver or treasurer-general

M. Johan Sapin, and each and every sum of money that he has already

received from the aforesaid Sapin of his said pension, and in case

he should die before the said Melzo and not otherwise; which moneys

are at present in the possession of the said Testator in the said

place called Cloux, as he says. And he likewise gives and bequeaths

to the said Melzo all and each of his clothes which he at present

possesses at the said place of Cloux, and all in remuneration for

the good and kind services done by him in past times till now, as

well as in payment for the trouble and annoyance he may incur with

regard to the execution of this present testament, which however,

shall all be at the expense of the said Testator.

And he orders and desires that the sum of four hundred scudi del

Sole, which he has deposited in the hands of the treasurer of Santa

Maria Nuova in the city of Florence, may be given to his brothers

now living in Florence with all the interest and usufruct that may

have accrued up to the present time, and be due from the aforesaid

treasurer to the aforesaid Testator on account of the said four

hundred crowns, since they were given and consigned by the Testator

to the said treasurers.

Item. He desires and orders that the said Messer Francesco de Melzo

shall be and remain the sole and only executor of the said will of

the said Testator; and that the said testament shall be executed in

its full and complete meaning and according to that which is here

narrated and said, to have, hold, keep and observe, the said Messer

Leonardo da Vinci, constituted Testator, has obliged and obliges by

these presents the said his heirs and successors with all his goods

moveable and immoveable present and to come, and has renounced and

expressly renounces by these presents all and each of the things

which to that are contrary. Given at the said place of Cloux in the

presence of Magister Spirito Fieri vicar, of the church of Saint

Denis at Amboise, of M. Guglielmo Croysant priest and chaplain, of

Magister Cipriane Fulchin, Brother Francesco de Corion, and of

Francesco da Milano, a brother of the Convent of the Minorites at

Amboise, witnesses summoned and required to that end by the

indictment of the said court in the presence of the aforesaid M.

Francesco de Melze who accepting and agreeing to the same has

promised by his faith and his oath which he has administered to us

personally and has sworn to us never to do nor say nor act in any

way to the contrary. And it is sealed by his request with the royal

seal apposed to legal contracts at Amboise, and in token of good

faith.

Given on the XXIIIrd day of April MDXVIII, before Easter.

And on the XXIIIrd day of this month of April MDXVIII, in the

presence of M. Guglielmo Borian, Royal notary in the court of the

bailiwick of Amboise, the aforesaid M. Leonardo de Vinci gave and

bequeathed, by his last will and testament, as aforesaid, to the

said M. Baptista de Vilanis, being present and agreeing, the right

of water which the King Louis XII, of pious memory lately deceased

gave to this same de Vinci, the stream of the canal of Santo

Cristoforo in the duchy of Milan, to belong to the said Vilanis for

ever in such wise and manner that the said gentleman made him this

gift in the presence of M. Francesco da Melzo, gentleman, of Milan

and in mine.

And on the aforesaid day in the said month of April in the said year

MDXVIII the same M. Leonardo de Vinci by his last will and testament

gave to the aforesaid M. Baptista de Vilanis, being present and

agreeing, each and all of the articles of furniture and utensils of

his house at present at the said place of Cloux, in the event of the

said de Vilanis surviving the aforesaid M. Leonardo de Vinci, in the

presence of the said M. Francesco Melzo and of me Notary &c. Borean.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE NOTEBOOKS OF LEONARDO DA

VINCI, COMPLETE ***

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