A 'Handelspraktik' (mercantile manual) from Upper Germany and mercantile knowledge around 1500

该项目的重点是一个来自上德意志的“Handelspraktik”，它可能创建于1511年。它以手稿的形式保存在今天的沃尔芬布特尔的Herzog八月图书馆(签名：Cod。盖尔夫。18.4.8月4日)。科学术语‘Handelspraktik’指的是中世纪晚期和近代早期的一种语用文本，它像是供个人或内部使用(即笔记本)或在更大的用户圈子(即手册)中分发的概要那样呈现商业知识。虽然商业笔记本从13世纪末开始在意大利出现，手册从15世纪开始在意大利出现，但沃尔芬布特尔图书馆的《Handelspraktik》是德语地区最早的相应文本之一。除其他外，本手册包含有关市场情况和商业习俗、价格和成本计算以及货币、测量和重量及其换算的信息。正文的主要焦点是与威尼斯的贸易。此外，对奥格斯堡和纽伦堡给予了特别关注，对法兰克福的关注程度要小得多。直到今天，我们还不知道是谁编的这本书，但它很可能起源于奥格斯堡。最近，人们对经济史的兴趣越来越大，但对它们的研究仍然存在实质性的缺陷。值得注意的是，沃尔芬布特尔的手稿早已为研究界所知。然而，到今天为止，还没有对这一对上德意志贸易史具有重要意义的来源进行详细的研究。该项目使用文本来分析1500年前后的商业知识，它是非常专门的实践性和程序性知识，即面向应用的知识，从三个相互紧密联系的分析角度进行研究：生产(形成的过程和条件)、秩序(内容及其联系)、呈现(传播技术和形式)。与其他“Handelspraktiken”进行系统的比较，特别是来自上德国的，但也来自意大利北部以及德国北部和荷兰地区，从系统上讲是必要的。因此，通过研究相关性、类比和差异，将有可能获得关于宪法和组成、连续性和变化、语用和及时性的见解，简而言之：1500年前后几十年商业知识的动态。通过对1511年的《Handelspraktik》的示范性关注，它在时间、范围和内容方面具有特别重要的意义，并通过其比较的语境，将揭示从中世纪晚期向现代早期过渡期间商业知识发展的一个重要部分。

The project focuses on a 'Handelspraktik' from Upper Germany, which was probably created in 1511. It is preserved in manuscript at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel today (signature: Cod. Guelf. 18.4. Aug. 4o). The scientific term 'Handelspraktik' refers to a type of pragmatic texts of the late Middle Ages and the early Modern Period presenting mercantile knowledge like a compendium for individual or internal use (i.e. notebooks) or distribution within a greater circle of users (i.e. manuals). While mercantile notebooks have emerged since the late thirteenth and manuals since the fifteenth century in Italy, the 'Handelspraktik' of the Wolfenbüttel library is one of the earliest examples for corresponding texts in German-speaking regions. Among other things, this handbook contains information on market conditions and commercial customs, prices and cost calculations, as well as currencies, measurements and weights together with their conversion. The main focus of the text is on the trade with Venice. In addition, particular attention is given to Augsburg and Nuremberg, to a much lesser extent to Frankfurt. Until today, we do not know who compiled the text, but it probably originates from Augsburg.In recent times 'Handelspraktiken' have attracted increasing interest with regard to economic history, yet, there are still substantive shortcomings in research on them. Significantly, the Wolfenbüttel manuscript has been known to the research community for a long time. Up to today, however, there has been no detailed examination of this source that is of great importance for the history of Upper German trade. The project uses the text in order to analyze the mercantile knowledge of the time around 1500, with it being very specialized practical and procedural knowledge, i.e. application-oriented knowledge, which is studied from three analytical perspectives, closely linked with each other: production (processes and conditions of formation), order (contents and their connections), presentation (techniques and forms of dissemination). Systematic comparisons with other 'Handelspraktiken', especially from Upper Germany, but also from Northern Italy and from regions of Northern Germany and the Netherlands, are methodically necessary. Accordingly, by investigating dependencies, analogies and differences, it will be possible to gain insights concerning constitution and composition, continuities and changes, pragmatics and timeliness, in a word: the dynamics of mercantile knowledge in the decades around 1500. With an exemplary focus on the 'Handelspraktik' from 1511, which is especially significant in terms of time, extent and content, as well as by means of its comparative contextualization, an essential part of the development of mercantile knowledge during the transition from the late Middle Ages to the early Modern Period will be uncovered.