Abstract

Starting from the available documentation originating mainly from the Archives of the Prince of Taranto (now part of the archival collection of the Regia Camera della Sommaria of the State Archives of Naples), the present paper aims at retracing the careers of Orsinian officials after Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo’s death in November 1463. The death of the powerful lord and the ensuing devolution of the Principality to the Aragonese Crown brought about a series of transformations not only in the judicial and institutional organization of the territory, but also in its administrative structure, feudal geography and social fabric. Particular attention will be devoted to administrative careers which usually required notary skills, to the criteria for selecting officials serving first the prince and then the king, and to their social origins, in an attempt to highlight elements of inconsistency and breaking points throughout such a delicate phase of transition