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1. Bookkeeping in Antiquity and the Middle Ages Bookkeeping or accounting is probably almost as old as commercial activity itself. In Sumerian Mesopotamia (3rd millennium BCE), commercial transactions were already being recorded on clay tablets. This simple method of bookkeeping, in use since antiquity, served to document completed transactions as a reminder for the trader and as evidence in legal disputes. The Roman Corpus iuris civilis, for example, required the accounts of merchants to be presented publicly in court in case of disputes.Such documentation became especial…

1. Economics 1.1. Basics The bill of exchange (Italian lettera di cambio, French letter de change, German Wechsel), “one of the most important achievements in the history of economics” [4], was developed in Italy on the basis of ancient precursors during the Commercial Revolution (12th–14th centuries). In its classic form, dating from the 14th century, it represented an order for payment, in which the maker (drawer) of the bill instructed the drawee (acceptor) to clear a debt elsewhere for a beneficiary or bearer in his pl…

1. Basics In modern commercial law, an open trading company (general partnership) is an association of two or more natural or legal persons to engage in commercial trade under a common brand name. Trading companies in this sense have been widespread since the end of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, contractual variants are found that make it necessary to distinguish been investors who are liable only to the extent of their investment and fully liable capital bearers, and to recognize that…

1. Denotation Unlike bureaux de change, which already existed in Upper Germany in the late Middle Ages, exchange banks were public clearing- and deposit banks, usually established by a town to function as a clearinghouse with a multilateral system of accounting, in order to better regulate the increasingly common practice of cashless payment transactions. At the same time, by means of the introduction of a currency of accounting (bank currency), exchange banks stabilized the existing cash and curr…

1. Definition“Long-distance” or “international” trade (for the Middle Ages and the first part of the early modern period a somewhat anachronistic term) constituted a central anchor of economic activity both within Europe and between Europe and extra-European economic zones. In contrast to local and regional trade, not to mention pedlary, long-distance trade covered great distances and provided for movement of goods and money between distant regions of Europe and increasingly – beginning in the 16th century – between Europe and regions outside Europe (overseas trade).Long-dis…

1. TypesTrading books are among the most important sources for the history of trade. Ever since the Commercial Revolution that began in Italy in the 12th and 13th centuries, there were two primary types:1) The development of bookkeeping, of whatever kind, created account books in the narrower sense, which documented mercantile transactions (including the correspondence that accompanied them). Over the centuries, and especially when double-entry bookkeeping (Bookkeeping, double-entry) was implemented in the 14th and 15th cent…

1. DefinitionExternal trade, in contrast to internal trade, is the portion of trade that imports (Import) or exports (Export) goods across the borders of a country or imports goods in order to export them again as quickly as possible, sometimes further processed or refined (re-export). In this sense, every territory of the early modern Holy Roman Empire that traded with its neighbors engaged in external trade. When external trade was essentially entrepot trade (Staple), that is, when the great ma…

The dispatching of goods in the early modern period was always regarded as an integral part of trade, although a distinction may be made between “normal” carriage, simple traffic and transport between two places, and long-distance dispatch (Ger. Speditionshandel or Transithandel).Dispatch as part of the business of trade was not generally operated professionally (cf. Professionalization 4.2.). Waggoners, in Alpine districts pack drivers, on larger rivers bargees or raftsmen, were often peasants and tenants, who took on paid transport…

1. Definition The term currency (from Latin currens, “flowing”) originally meant a condition of fluidity; the figurative sense of “circulation” of money was coined in 1690 by John Locke. The German term Währung (from MHG werunge, “guarantee”) refers to a territory's legal regulation of the monetary system, and, like currency, encompasses the definition of the coinage system (coin standard, establishment of the relative values of different coins and the intrinsic precious metal content), the establishment of legal tender, and ex…

A trade agreement – long-term and comprehensive or short-term – is a contractual convention concerning external trade relationships (Trade, external) between two or more cities, countries, or territories.1. EuropeEver since the Middle Ages, movement of goods across borders has been regulated by trade agreements, in which issues of customs law in particular played a central role. Trade agreements also dealt with the legal status of the merchants involved, especially away from home – that is, their freedom to settle abroad, …

1. Commercial history 1.1. Definition and historical originsInsurance is the elimination of individual financial risk by distributing it to a community with similar risk. This is done by the payment of individual contributions or premiums into a common fund, the total sum of which is determined by the amount of risk to be covered. The commercial insurance industry facilitates the creation of risk communities, the collection of premiums, and the disbursal of insurance benefits as services. Together with…

1. Legal status, membersThe German Customs Union was legally not quite a solid confederation of states (States, confederation of), but it clearly represented more than a simple trade agreement dealing with a central aspect of the economy – customs duties and, in the broader sense, external trade (Trade, external). Functionally, therefore, it can be considered a predecessor of today’s international organizations. In the Customs Union Treaty of March 22, 1833 to January 1, 1834, the states …

Trading customs (German Handelsusancen, from Italian  usanza or uso, “custom,” “usage”) are customary agreements or commercial practices between merchants that relate to various segments of trade transactions. They arose beginning in the high Middle Ages to meet various needs and requirements and were maintained by tradition – for example, the manner in which the price of wheat was recorded.Trading customs varied, sometimes substantially, at individual commercial centers (Trade fairs or towns). It was absolutely necessary for a merchant to be fami…

1. Introduction An annual fair (German Jahrmarkt), also called kermis, was a market with a regional catchment area, held once or several times a year and thereby distinguished both from the weekly market [9. 147, 149] and from the trade fair, whose focus was wider, even international. Like the trade fair (German  Messe), the annual fair - which took place at a designated marketplace and sometimes had its own specific market area, even its own buildings - was associated with a church festival (dedicated to Christ, Mary, or a saint) and took p…

1. Background Trade denotes the frequent, systematic transfer of property rights or ownership (Property) of goods, as a rule by the use of money (Money economy). Trade can involve the institution of a market but does not have to. Before 1850, the European and extra-European economies were predominantly subsistence economies – that is, the production of agricultural and industrial goods to meet personal needs in the context of a household economy dominated the production and marketing of commercial…

A check (British Engl. cheque, Fr. chèque) is a written bank deposit instruction by which the signatory commissions his or her bank or a public institution to pay out the amount of money indicated on the check from his account to another person . The development and dissemination of the check was part of the elaboration of cash-freepayment transactions in the late Middle Ages and early modern period. The word check derives etymologically from Ital. scacco (“treasure”), as does Engl. “exchequer,” which in turn goes back to Arab. sakk, a type of payment instruction [1. 555].Deposit instruct…

1. BasicsAn outgrowth of a storage right in a natural trading center (Trade), the right of staple had already become a mandatory requirement by the high Midde Ages: traveling merchants were required to “staple” (i.e. store) their goods at a specific place – often a river crossing or a crossroads – for a specific length of time and offer them for sale to the local population. This could be accompanied by the obligation to sell the goods at that place and no other – a privilege that the Hanseatic L…

Regional trade comprises commercial activities occurring, geographically speaking, between the two poles of the essentially local confines of the retail trade and the long-distance trade over substantial distances (Trade, Long-distance). It therefore denotes the trade within a single economic region, or between two or more regions, as often limited by the available (preindustrial) transportation possibilities (Traffic and transport). Merchants often specialized in regional trade when …

Traditionally a counting-house has been understood as the scriptorium or shop (in modern language, the office) of medieval and early modern merchants. The term goes back to French  comptoir (“counter,” from Latin  computare, “count,” “calculate”), which suggests an original reference to a table or desk used for writing or trading. The counting-house became a central feature of commercial activity in the high Middle Ages, when merchants no longer traveled with their merchandise but settled in one place. With increasing literac…

1. Definition and formsThe term  interest (French  intérêt; see  Interest), in earlier Latin sources often called  interesse, contrasts with German  Zins – from Latin  census, “valuation (of wealth),” “tribute.” Until well into the 18th century, it meant compensation for both the loan of money or movables (Loan for consumption [mutuum]) and the use of land or immovables (lease or rent interest, ground rent, rent charge; see Peasant property rights; Services, peasant), later it normally meant only the former (see also…