Individuals

Tessa (mona) (uxor di Laino di Giovanni del Cerna)

1362 or 1382 a

birth

wife of del Cerna, Laino di Giovanni
mother of del Cerna, Donato di Laino di Giovanni
mother of del Cerna, Francesco (ser) di Laino di Giovanni

ASF, Catasto, 1427	vol. 65, fol. 446v-447
ASF, Manoscritti, 622, Sep. Quart. S. Spirito + SMM	fol. 59
ASF, Manoscritti, 624, Rosselli, Sepoltuario Fiorentino, 1657 (copy)	pp. 173, no. 6
D. Herlihy et al., Online Catasto of 1427	rec. 50000994

[a] Mona Tessa, widow of Laino di Giovanni del Cerna, filed a catasto declaration in 1427 with her five sons ages 13 through 30. Her given age appears to be 65, and was interpreted as such by Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, but this would mean that she gave birth at the highly improbable ages of 35 for her oldest son ser Francesco, and 52 for her youngest son Jacopo. More likely is that the scribe wrote a very mangled 45, though the number looks much more like other 6s on the page than other 4s.
[b] Ser Francesco's mother was named Tessa is the likely honoree, and probable patron, of this tomb even though the transcription of its inscription (S. di Mona Tessa di S. Francesco di Laino del Cerna et de suoi) suggests instead that she was his daughter. It would be peculiar for an unmarried woman to commission a tomb for herself and any descendants would be indirect heirs. The widow mona Tessa, however, would have reason and means to commission a tomb for herself, her oldest son ser Francesco, and their collective descendants.