the Man of Many Devices, Who Wandered Full Many Ways

... The Man of Many Devices, Who Wandered Full Many Ways ...

Festschrift in Honor of Jänos M. Bak

Edited by Baläzs Nagy and Marcell Sebök

,,,~ ~., CEUPRESS 4!~ Central European University Press Budapest

TRANSCONTINENTAL TRADE FROM EAST,CENTRAL EUROPE TO WESTERN EUROPE (FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES)

Baläzs Nagy

In 1335, a rare and almost unique event happened in the history of medieval Europe, Three monarchs of East-Central Europe assembled for a "royal summit" in Viscgräd, not far from Buda, in Hungary. At this meeting the most influential figures of fourteenth-century East-Central Europe were called together, and the most important political, dynastic, and economic questions were discussed. Charles Robert of Anjou. the king of Hungary, welcomed his Polish and Bohemian colleagues Casimir III and John of Luxemburg. The latter was accompanied by his son and heir, Charles, the Moravian margrave and the future emperor Charles IV.' In the 1330s, the three countries and the whole of East-Central Europe were enter- ing a dynamic period of growth. Bohemia had been under the rule of the Luxemburg dynasty since 1310. John of Luxemburg (1310-46) had seized the throne after the extinction of the national dynasty of the Przemyslids. Previously Wenceslas 11(1278-1305) had made an attempt to unite the countries of East-Central Europe under the rule of his dynasty. His son, Wenceslas Ill, also inherited the Hungarian and Polish crowns in addition to the Bohemian crown, but due to his premature death in 1306 the union broke down. Due to a lack of capable monarchs, Poland and Hungary were in political disarray in the first years of the fourteenth century. The Polish kingdom was divided into numerous independent duchies, and some parts of it were under Bohemian control. This was the situation when Wenceslas 11was elected and crowned as king of Poland in 1300. His death was followed by the crowning of Wladislaw l Lokietek (1:~06-:~:~). He and his son Casimir III (1333-70), who succeeded him, ruled Poland in the next six decades and led the country to its medieval flourishing. Wladislaw united the dismembered territories of Poland and his son acquired the duchies of Halicz and Vladimir, and later on Masovia. Both of them were forced to acknowledge the consolidating power of the Teutonic Order in Pornerania and the Baltic area. The last king of the ArpAd dynasty, the ruling family of Hungary for over three hundred years, died in 1301, and the country thereafter fell into political chaos. Wenceslas Ill, the heir of the Bohemian crown, was elected as Hungarian king, but the shortness of his reign did not allow time for a solution to the problem. The situation was resolved in 1308 with the election of Charles Robert of Anjou (1308-42). lie restored the royal power and gradually brought the whole territory of the country under his administration. The royal finances were soon reorganized and income to the treasury significantly increased. Under the rule of John of Bohemia and his successor, Charles IV (1346-78), Bo- hemia entered its medieval golden age. Charles intended to make Bohemia and Pra- 348 BALAzs NAGY gue the center of his empire. He acquired Brandenburg as a new addition to his "Hausmacht." 2 The prosperity of East-Central Europe in the fourteenth century was determined by political and economic realities. In respect of politics, it is important to realize that these countries were connected by dynastic and political alliances. Until the Hussite wars there were no major military conflicts in this region, so East-Central Europe could guarantee peace and safety for economic activity. Due to family relations again, Louis of Hungary (1342-82) became the king of Po- land after the death of his uncle, Casimir, in 1370. This was the next attempt in this century to unite particular countries in East-Central Europe into an empire, this time under the rule of the Anjou dynasty. But this scheme failed as well. Louis bequeathed his empire to his two daughters, Mary inheriting Hungary, Hedwig (Jadwiga) Poland, and so the "empire" was divided. Both of them married descendants of well-known dynasties who were looking forward to a promising political career, Sigismund of Luxemburg and Jagiello of Lithuania.' Thus the plans for the unification of Poland and Hungary under the rule of the Anjou family failed to materialize. In economic terms, a common factor uniting Bohemia and Hungary was the increase in the mining of silver and gold. The discovery of silver mines in Bohemia (at Jihlava [Iglau] and later in Kutnä Hora [Kuttenberg]) and the gold mines in the northern parts of Hungary (present-day Slovakia) resulted in an exceptional concentration of financial power in East-Central Europe. One example will suffice. In 1344, the queen mother of Hungary, Elizabeth, vis- ited Naples to help with the family problems of her son Andrew. Her other son, King Louis of Hungary, provided Elizabeth with the necessary allowance. This amounted to 27,000 marks of pure silver and 17,000 marks of pure gold. Louis later sent his mother another 4,000 marks of gold. So the queen mother had at her disposal approximately 5,250 kilograms of gold and 6,750 kilograms of silver." According to reliable estimates, the yearly gold production of Hungary in the middle of the fourteenth century was between 2,000 and 2,500 kilograms, the highest in Europe. Hun- garian gold production was the most significant in this period, disregarding the gold mining in Africa, and possibly reached fifty percent of world production.> At the Visegräd summit the three kings made every effort to settle the existing political conflicts among their countries. Casimir III surrendered Silesia to John, the Bohemian king, who had previously conquered parts of it. John in return recognized the rule of Casimir in Poland and resigned his claim to the Polish throne. Charles Robert, the Hungarian king, secured the right of his son, Louis, to inherit the Polish throne. The conflict between Poland and the Teutonic Knights was also discussed. However, the most important matters discussed were problems relating to the economic, and above all the commercial, connections among the countries. The three kings were allied against the staple regulations in Vienna. This city had received a privilege in 1312 which obliged foreign merchants travelling through Austria to stop there and offer their goods for sale. Before 1312, the main commercial routes from Germany to East-Central Europe led through Vienna. The Luxemburgs, the Bohemian royal family of that time, were hostile to the Habsburgs. Thus they made every effort to find allies and to create a league against the monopoly of Vienna. A determined and well-considered political program commenced thereafter to re- organize the economic map of East-Central Europe. It was carried out by way of royal TRANSCONTINENTAL TRADE FROM EAST-CENTRAl EUROPE TO WESTERN EUROPE 349 decisions and privileges and by mutual agreements between the main commercial cities as well. In the year following the Visegräd summit a treaty was drawn up at a meeting between Charles Robert and John of Luxemburg. They fixed the preferred line of the main commercial route connecting Hungary and Moravia and set limits on the customs dues. The agreement was prepared on the basis of the evidence of the citizens of Brno (Brünn) and Trnava (Nagyszombat), the two main towns en route. The customs levied in these cities on the goods of merchants were much more favorable to those cities than to cities on the other routes.s The kings' intention had become obvious from the privilege of 1336 which also favored foreign merchants, especially those coming from Bohemia.' But it was not only a single action. John, the king of Bohemia, informed the city of Frankfurt that the "Stapelrecht" (right of staple), up to that time in Vienna, was being transferred to Brno. He ordered every merchant coming from Austria, Hungary, and Poland to bring their goods to Brno, and promised to protect them in his country.! The traditional route of western trade ran principally from the South-Cerman me- tropolis of Nuremberg in the valley of the Danube towards East-Central Europe, via Regensburg, Passau, Vienna, Bratislava (PozsonyjPreßburg) and Buda. In the 1330s, the Bohemian, Hungarian, and Polish rulers tried to develop an alternative northern route, through Prague, Brno, Trnava, Esztergom, and Buda. It bypassed Vienna and connected Hungary and Bohemia, and also made trade with Poland easier. The archbishop of Esztergom, the owner of significant customs rights on the Da- nube, issued a privilege in 1337 to Bohemian, Swabian and Flemish merchants and to those who came from the Rhineland. He reduced the usual customs dues, since trade coming through Bohemia was very favorable to Hungary. The privilege was supported by the merchants of Mainz, Prague, Nuremberg, and Augsburg, who were obviously concerned in these matters because of their business connections." Many merchants frequented this commercial route, and not only from the neigh- boring countries. According to a privilege of Louis I (1345), the "mercatores de Sancta Colonia et de Ciuitate Hay ac de alijs partibus Reni' (that is, the merchants from Co- logne, Huy and from the Rhineland) obtained the same rights and grants as the merchants of Bohemia and Moravia had.t? In the next decades these terms were extended to people coming from Nuremberg and Prague (1357), from Wrodaw (German: Breslau) and Cheb (1365), and from Regensburg (1369).11 The role of the South-German cities, and especially that of Nuremberg, was deci- sive in the commercial connections of East-Central Europe. Nuremberg was the first to respond, after 1335, to the initiative of the Visegräd summit to attract South- German and western trade and capital. Trade with Nuremberg was privileged in Cheb from 1305 and in Prague from 1326. After the accession to the throne of Charles of Luxemburg in Bohemia in 1346, contacts between Nuremberg and Bohemia became more and more intensive. The town and the wealthiest merchant families supported the emperor's rule financially, and Charles used his political influence to help the commercial interests of Nuremberg. He intervened on their behalf with Casimir Ill, as a consequence of which the Polish king granted the people of Nuremberg the right to do business in Poland as far as Lviv (Lemberg). The intention behind Charles' economic policy was to create a busy commercial route between the Northern seas and East-Central Europe. The supplementary east- west axis would have been the Prague-Frankfurt line. These plans were not corn- 350 BALAzs NAGY pletely realized, but the ambition was to make Prague not only the political, but also the economic and commercial center of Europe. As ajunior, but promising participant of the Visegräd summit, Charles tried to put into practice the initiatives of the meeting by establishing direct trade links connecting Flanders and the Rhineland with Bohemia and Hungary. In 1365, after the settling of the trade conflicts with Venice, the emperor allowed the merchants coming from there to use the route northward via Prague, Hamburg and Brügge. He made some efforts to realize his ambition for his capital and so ordered the building of a fluvial harbor in Prague on the Moldau. Furthermore, he tried to make the river navigable up to the mouth of the EIbe. He granted privileges to the main towns on the way, Ceske Budejovice (Budweis) and Hamburg. To attract people coming to Hamburg fairs were proclaimed in the provinces along the Eibe, in Bavaria, in Austria, and in Hungary also. The emperor helped the merchants of those towns which played a significant role in his plans. Thus people coming from Prague, Wrodaw, Kutnä Hora, and Sulzbach were privileged in Frankfurt (1359).12 A manuscript compiled in the last third of the thirteenth century listed the most important goods transported to Brügge. The references to Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland contain specific information about the wares and the direction of the trade in this period: "oo« royaume de Hongrie uient eire, or et argent en plate. Dou royaume de Behaingne uient eire, or et argent et estain. Dou royaume de Polane vient or et argent en plate, eire, vairs et gris et coivre. "13 The products of these territories reached Brügge and the western European market via the East-West roads through Germany, and by the South-North routes in Poland. The Vistula, the main river of Poland, which flows into the Baltic Sea at Gdansk (Danzig), made possible the shipping of goods from northern Hungary and Poland up to the busy commercial zone of north Europe. These circumstances alone can explain an inaccuracy in the above description of the foreign goods in Bruge (Brügge). Poland did not produce copper in significant amounts in the Middle Ages. The metal came from the mines of northern Hungary. It reached the Vistula at Cracow, or not far from it, and the copper was called Polish since it was transported to the sea from Poland. It is not accidental, but to some extent typical, that the east-central European countries were listed as suppliers of gold, silver, copper, tin, wax and furs. This document also shows the development of the trading route running from Hungary through Poland to the Baltic Sea. The main towns and commercial centers in these parts were Cracow and Kosice [Kaschau/Kassa]. In 1324, the two cities made a "pactum mutuum," an agreement which guaranteed mutual concessions in trading rights. In terms of northwards traffic, Sandomierz and Toruri also competed for special privileges." There was a western branch of this trading route connecting Kosice and Cracow via overland routes with Wrodaw. This rather complex network also gave Lviv the opportunity to send goods from the East to reach the western market. Lviv was the end point of the trading routes coming from Halicz and Wladimir, from Caffa and Tana, and even from the Far-East. Later, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Lviv became the main station of the east European cattle trade, with close links to some important rearing zones." The region of East-Central Europe in the Middle Ages had some common characteristics from the viewpoint of demography as well. One of them is the relatively low level of the population density in comparison with some western countries. The TRANSCONTINENTAL TRADE FROM EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE TO WESTERN EUROPE 351 number of inhabitants was also lower at the beginning of the fourteenth century. We may presume figures of between 2 and 3 million people for Bohemia; 2 million for Hungary; and between 1.2 and 1.5 million for Poland. However, this level was soon exceeded and it was followed by a continuous increase." The effect of the Black Death on the population in East-Central Europe is another remarkable feature. The epidemic apparently caused much smaller losses here than in western and southern Europe. The effects in Poland were moderate, and it caused comparatively smaller losses in Hungary as well. Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, where the economic development was the most advanced, were hit by the plague more heavily." To explain this particularity we have to recall the fact that before 1348 the famine in this region was not as severe as in a number of other countries in the first half of the fourteenth century." The countries of East-Central Europe had few contacts with maritime trade at that time, and so the spread of the infection was much more limited than in western Europe, where the seaports and trade centers were the most endangered points. There are other factors which may also account for the smaller number of victims in East-Central Europe. Firstly, the arid climate of the continental territories was less suitable for the spreading of the infection. Secondly, differences in the European population in trems of blood groups may have had some effects regarding the pesti- lence. This does not mean that there were no outbreaks of plague at all in East-Central Europe. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries regular epidemics occurred and there was a high mortality rate, although more moderate than in the western regions of Europe. The only political event in East-Central Europe to influence the development of the population and cause losses was the Hussite revolution and the subsequent wars. These wars were waged not only in Bohemia, but in Moravia, Silesia, and in northern Hungary as well. The consequent devastation affected these territories significantly. In the demographic history of the east-central European countries the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are not a period of drastic population decline followed by a slow recovery, but rather of steady increase. This progress lasted at least until the second half of the sixteenth century."

Trends in demographie change (In percentage: the population in 1300 = 100 percent)"

Year Germany (North) England Poland Hungary

1300 100 100 100 100 1400 80 70 150 ? 1500 123 90 250 175-200

The process of urbanization in this region is also worth attention. The most significant and most populated urban center in East-Central Europe was Prague. Charles IV turned this city into his royal residence and established some new districts there. 352 BALAzs NAGY

He founded the university and made great efforts to promote the development of Prague. At the time of the emperor's death there were some 40,000 inhabitants in Prague. In this period the population of Cologne, the most populous German town, amounted to 30,000 inhabitants; that of Lübeck, Gdansk, Nuremberg and the other important towns to between 20,000 and 23,000.21 Beside Prague, the most significant centers in East-Central Europe were Wrodaw (over 20,000 inhabitants), Cracow and Lviv (below 20,000). In Hungary there were no large cities like these. At the end of the fifteenth century Buda had 8,000 inhabitants and Pest, Kosice, and Szeged a somewhat smaller number." The level of urbanization is determined not only by the metropolises and capitals but by the density of smaller urban centers as well. In Bohemia the large towns beside Prague, the dominant capital, produced a prosperous urban network. There were at least 32 royal towns each with 2,000 to 5,000 inhabitants. The main towns had their own commercial ties outside Bohemia (e.g. Prague, PIzen and, in Moravia, Brno). The proportion of the population living in cities was greater in Bohemia than in Poland or Hungary." However, the fourteenth century was an important period in the urbanization of Poland also. The most significant progress occurred in Silesia and in Lesser Poland. In addition to the principal centers (Cracow, Wrodaw), Poznari, Sandomierz and a lot of smaller cities also took part in international trade> In Hungary the bulk of the urban.population lived in approximately 800 privileged market towns. The average number of inhabitants in these oppida were only a few hundred people, and most of them lived on agricultural production. In spite of the fact that the number and economic role of the urban population was underdevel- oped in Hungary, the growth rate of towns and of urbanization accelerated consid- erably in the fourteenth century." The role of immigration was also a common feature in the development of east- central European countries. A huge number of immigrants moved to the region, most of them from Germany, and they founded numerous cities and settled there. Thus the towns were usually dominated by people of foreign origin, who were capable of organizing trade connections with their native land or city. The case of the mining towns reflects a particular role of the immigrant Ger- man population. In Bohemia and in Hungary special mining towns were established to exploit the silver and gold reserves. These settlements were dominated mostly by German townspeople, some of them miners, who, by using their experience, promoted the new prosperity in mining, especially the mining of precious metals.26 Apart from the Germans, who comprised the largest immigrant group, there was a considerable movement of people from other countries too. The "ioallones" and "latini," immigrants from the territory of France, Flanders, and Italy, settled primarily in urban centers.F Most historians agree that the fourteenth century marked the beginning of a remarkable flourishing in the economic conditions of East-Central Europe. Similar transformations took place here as had occured in the West two or three centuries earlier. In the West, however, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw the culmina- tion of medieval prosperity and the signs of crisis were observable already in the first decades of the fourteenth century. TRANSCONTINENTAL TRADE FROM EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE TO WESTERN EUROPE 353

The period from the tenth to twelfth century was marked in East-Central Europe by the organization of a subsistence economy and only very slow and low-level economic development occurred." The most advanced territories, comparatively speaking, included some regions of Bohemia, Silesia, Lesser Poland, and parts of Hungary. Here the natural conditions were favorable not only for agricultural production and for animal husbandry, but for mining too. Mining activity on a primitive scale had begun earlier, but the fourteenth century saw dynamic progress in the level of exploitation." Mining in the medieval economy had some particular effects which influenced positively the formation of the whole economy. Having worked out the accessible stocks, often with small-scale methods, the activity had to be organised within the structure of a mine plant. A considerable development in mining technology was necessary in order to reach the ore in the lower levels. A consequence of this was the rise of specialized groups of miners. In the early stages these people worked because of their feudal obligations, but later they were employed as wage laborers. This increased the demand for agricultural and industrial products. These goods were sup- plied mostly by commercial routes, thus promoting the expansion of trade networks. Mining, and especially the mining of precious metals, generated financial prosperity and therefore there was a significant concentration of purchasing power in the mining regions. The importation was usually at the expense of the outflow of the money minted from precious metals. Thus, in the course of the dynamic progress in trade relations, these regions attracted long-distance trade and made the local merchants economically stronger. Mining exerted a very discernible influence on urban development. The people of the Middle Ages discovered the ores of the different metals usually far from inhabited areas, often in mountainous districts or in woodlands. Human settlements were created there, and afterwards some of these hamlets turned into larger and stable colo- nies. A special type of town was formed in this way. The fortune of these mining towns was connected to the advance and decline of mining. The mining industry encouraged the process of urbanization and the towns contributed favorably the general economic growth of the whole mining region. This was the case, for example, in the northern parts of Hungary and in Silesia. 3D Mining was not the isolated activity of independent miners, thus it necessitated the establishment of a more complex organization. Numerous people with special skills and long experience had to work together. The water supply and drainage, and the transportation of ore and metal also had to be provided. Among the medieval industries mining was under the closest control by the authorities in the person of the feudal lord who owned the mine and, in the case of precious metals, the royal officials who controlled and recorded the works. In East-Central Europe industrial production in general was not intensive enough to be able to create a multiplicative effect nor to exert a really stimulating effect on the other spheres of economic life. However, mining activity was advanced and developed to the required level. Urbanization in the mining regions was considerable, and a significant part of the population worked not in subsistence agriculture, but in a special branch of the mining industry which produced its goods, to some extent, for the international market." 354 BALAzs NAGY

The joining of the countries of East-Central Europe in transcontinental trade also had a multiplicative effect. The regions on the commercial routes, and particularly the dynamically growing towns there, were influenced favorably by the prosperity arising from the flourishing traffic and the demands created by it. What kind of effects might the crisis of the fourteenth century have had on economic conditions in East-Central Europe? As we have seen, this region was connected by close commercial ties to the West, and this connection did not cease in the period of crisis, but was rather transformed. To quote Jenö Szücs, the Hungarian historian:

Ultimately the salient point in the West's recovery was the fact that even before 1300 the whole structure's center of gravity shifted once and for all to the urban economy. The urban economy was the first of the forces affected (and the crisis affected all strata) to recover from the crisis. This it managed to do chiefly by discov- ering East-Central Europe as the place where its market crisis could be solved and its demand for precious metals be fulfilled; the regions beyond the Eibe paid in the long run for the West's recovery from the crisis.t-

Indeed the significance of East-Central Europe in the European economy of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is illustrated by its demand for western industrial goods, primarily for cloth, and its gold and silver production. In this period a lively trade developed, though it had some disadvantageous characteristics. The wealth coming from the mining of precious metals generated a relatively strong purchasing power. The effect of this was quite far-reaching. The wealth induced merchants to bring their goods here, but the flow of wares from the more advanced regions of western Europe hindered the development of local industry. The towns were dominated mostly by the merchant groups, who were less concerned to stimulate local production than to increase commercial traffic. So the general advancement of the cities in East-Central Europe remained rather primitive compared with that of western urban centers, and the political and economic role of the cities was also limited. The western economy's way out of the crisis following the previous stimulating process destined the urban economies of East-Central Europe to stagnation." How- ever, after 1500 the situation changed again. The flow of precious metals from the recently discovered mines of South America fulfilled the demand for silver and gold in Europe. Thereafter the purchasing power of the European urban centers concen- trated on the agricultural products of East-Central Europe. To quote Jenö Szücs again, "It caused the great estates cultivated by forced labor to become the typical eastern partner in the East-West division of labor that developed."34

NOTES

1 In this study, the region of East-Central Europe will be taken to include the following historical territories: Bohemia, Hungary, Lesser-Poland (Malopolska), Greater Poland [Wielko- polska), Moravia, and Silesia. 2 Francis Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern Europe (London: Polish Research Cen- tre, 1949), 262-67. Jänos M. Bak, "East-Central Europe," in Denys Hay, Europe in the Four- teenth &: Fifteenth Centuries 2d ed., (London: Longmans, 1989),214-33. 3 JagieHoof Lithuania became Wladislaw II of JagieHo,king of Poland (1386-1434). 4 "habens secum pro expensa uiginti septem millia marcarum puri argenti et decem septem mil- TRANSCONTINENTAL TRADE FROM EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE TO WESTERN EUROPE 355 lia marcarum purissimi auri. Dominus autem Lodowicus rex Hungarie filius suus misit post eam quattuor millia marcarum auri electi. Habuit etiam secum de florenis fere cum media garleta, de denariis vero parvis usque ad exitum regni multum." Johannes de Thurocz Chronica Hunqa- rorum. eds. Erzsebet Caläntai and Gyula Krist6, (Budapest: Akaderniai, 1985), 162-3. Bälint H6man, "A XIV. szäzadi aranyvälsäg" [The fourteenth-century gold crisis], in Fejerpataky- emlekkönyv (Budapest, 1917), 212-42; esp. 239-41. Peter Spufford, Money and its Use in Me- dieval Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 391-2. 5 H6man, "A XIV. szäzadi aranyvälsäg," 225. Oszkär Paulinyi, "Nemesfemterrnelesünk es orszägos gazdasägunk ältalänos alakuläsa a bontakoz6 es kifejlett feudalizmus korszakäban, 1000-1526" [Hungarian precious metal production and the formation of the country's economic conditions in the period of early and high feudalism, 1000-1526], Szäzadok 106 (1972): 561-602, esp. 561-7. 6 Sändor Domanovszky, "A harmincadväm eredete" [The origin of the thirtieth tax], in sändor Domanovszky, Cazdasäq es tärsadalom a közepkorban [Economy and society in the Middle Ages] (Budapest: Gondolat, 1979), 51-99, esp. 56-7. Ambrus PleideII, A Nyugatra irä- nyul6 magyar külkereskedelem a közepkorban [Hungarian foreign trade towards the West in the Middle Ages] (Budapest: Budaväri Tudornänyos Tärsasäg, 1925), 36-8. 7 Gerhard Hirschmann, "Nürnbergs Handelsprivilegien, Zollfreiheiten und Zollverträge bis 1399," in Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte Nürnbergs (Nürnberg: Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, 1967), Vol. 1:16. 8 "Preterea nos una cum deliberatione magnificorum principum dominorum regum Ungariae et Poloniae,fratrum nostrorum, firmauimus, quod deposicio rerum mercimonialium, que hactenus Vienne in Austria habebatur et servabatur, ammodo in civitate nostra Brunniensi esse debeat et seruari et strate ad accedendum eandem civitatem tam per nos quam per dietos reges pro omnibus transeuntibus sunt plenissime assecurate. Super quibus vestram deliberacionem curetis intimare." Theodor Mayer, Der auswärtige Handel des Herzogtums Österreich im Mittelalter (Innsbruck, 1909),29. PleideII, "A Nyugatra iränyulö," 38. György Szekely, "Kereskedelem es värosi agglo- rneräciök Közep-Euröpäban IV. Käroly koräban" [Commerce and urban agglomerations in Central Europe at the time of Charles IV],AgrartörMneti Szemle 22 (1980): 22-4. 9 PleideII, "A Nyugatra iränyulö," 39-40. 10 The privilege of Cologne in 1259 referred to the frequent visits of merchants from East- Central Europe to the Rhine: "Quod videlicet nullus mercatorum de Ungaria, Boemia, Polonia, Bawaria, Sueuia, Saxonia, Thuringia, Hassia et quibuscumque aliis orientalibus partibus cum mer- cibus quibuslibet ad Renum ueniens extra atque ultra civitatem Coloniensem excepta sola causa peregrationis procedet," see the Hansisches Urkundenbuch Vol I., (Halle, Leipzig, 1876), Nr. 523. The intention of this prohibition was to hinder direct trade connections between the Flemish and Brabantine and the abovementioned merchants, and so make a profit from the favorable position of Cologne. 11 Ondrej R. Halaga, "Kaufleute und Handelsgüter der Hanse im Karpatengebiet," Han- sische Geschichtsblätter 85 (1967): 74; PleideII, "A Nyugatra iränyulö," 49-50. 12 Wolfgang von Stromer, "Der kaiserliche Kaufmann - Wirtschaftspolitik unter Karl IV," in Ferdinand Seibt ed. Kaiser Karl IV: Staatsmann und Mäzen (München: Prestel Verlag, 1978) 63-73, esp. 66-9. 13 Hansisches Urkundenbuch, Vol. Ill. 419. n. 1. 14 Halaga, "Kaufleute und Handelsgüter der Hanse," 66. 15 Friedrich Lütge, Strukturwandlungen im ostdeutschen und osteuropäischen Fernhandel des 14. bis 16. Jahrhunderts (München: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1964),14-27. 16 Erik Pügedi, "The Demographic Landscape of east-censral Europe," in A. Macz~k, H. Samsonowicz, and P.Burke. eds., East-Central Europe in Transition. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985),49. 356 BALAzs NACY

17 Irena Gieysztorowa, "Research into the demographic history of Poland. (A provisional summing-up)," Acta Poloniae Historica 18 (1968): 7. 18 The plague broke out not only in 1348-1351, but frequently in the following decades in East-Central Europe and in the Western countries, too. 19 For the demographic history of East-Central Europe in the Middle Ages see: Fügedi, "The Demographic Landscape of east-central Europe," 47-58. Frantisek Graus, "Autour de la peste noire au XIVe siecle en Boheme," Annales ESC 18 (1963): 720-4. Gieysztorowa, "Research into the demographic history of Poland," 5-17. J. C. RusselI, "Recent advances in medieval demography," Speculum 40 (1965): 95-6. 20 Henryk Sarnsonowicz, "Changes in the Baltic zone in the XIII-XVlth centuries," Journal of European Economic History 4 (1975): 659. In the case of Hungary the data is given for 1526 and not for 1500. Some of the above mentioned data are not precise enough to be the base for further calculations: it is a consequence of the general shortage and unreliability of the demographic sources regarding the Middle Ages. The frontiers of some east-central European countries (esp. that of Poland and of Bohemia) were changed often and significantly in this period. It is, therefore, very difficult to produce any comparable data. 21 Hermann Kellenbenz, "Die europäische Wirtschaft zur Zeit Kaiser Karls IV," Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung 39 (1979): 64. 22 György Szekely, "A kereskedelem es a kereskedelmi utak Közep-Kelet-Euröpäban a kesei feudalizmus koräban" [Trade and Commercial Routes in East-Central Europe in the Period of Late Feudalism], S:{Qzadok 106 (1972): 801-4; Henryk Samsonowicz, "War JagelIonisches Ostmitteleuropa eine Wirtschaftseinheit?" Acta Poloniae Historica 41 (1980): 89-90. 23 Prantisek Graus, "Die Handelsbeziehungen Böhmens zu Deutschland und Österreich im 14. und zu Beginn des 15. Jahrhunderts," Historica 2 (1960): 97-8. Szekely, "A kereskedelem es a kereskedelmi utak," 801. Pügedi, "The Demographic Landscape of East-Central Europe," 50. 24 Szekely, "A kereskedelem es a kereskedelmi utak," 801-6. 25 Pügedi, "The Demographic Landscape of east-central Europe," 51-2. Vera Bäcskai, "Mezögazdasägi äruterrneles es ärucsere a mezövärosokban a XV. szäzadban" [Agricultural Production and Exchange of Goods in Market Towns in the Fifteenth Century], Agrartörteneti Szemle 6 (1964): 1-5. 26 Erik Fügedi, "Das mittelalterliche Königreich Ungarn als Gastland," in Waiter Schlesin- ger, ed., Die deutsche Ostsiedlung des Mittelalters als Problem der europäischen Geschichte (Vorträ- ge und Forschungen, XVIII.) (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1975), 471-507; Paulinyi, "Nemesfern- terrnelesünk es orszägos gazdasägunk," passim. 27 György Szekely, "Wallons et Italiens en Europe Centrale aux Xle-XVle siecles," Annales Universitatis Scientiarum Budapestiensis de Rolando Eötvös nominate. Sectio Historica 6 (1964): 3-71. György Szekely, "A szekesfeherväri latinok es valIonok a közepkori Magyarorszägon" [The Latins and Walloons of Szekesfehervär in Medieval Hungary], S~ekesfehervar evs~dzadai 2 (1972): 45-72. 28 Marian Malowist, "The Problem of the Inequality of Economic Development in Europe in the Later Middle Ages," Economic History Review 19 (1966): 17-23. 29 The gold production before the 1330s, for instance, came, to a non-negligible extent, from the panning of gold from rivers. 30 Danuta Molenda, "Mining towns in central-eastern Europe in feudal times," Acta Polo- niae Historica 34 (1976): 165-88. 31 Herman Van der Wee and Theo Peters, "Un modele dynamique de croissance intersecu- laire du commerce mondial (XIIe-XVIlIe siecles]," Annales ESC 25 (1970): 106. 32 Jena Szücs, "Three historical regions of Europe, (An Outline)," Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (1983): 131-184, esp. 158. 33 Szücs, "Three historical regions of Europe," 160. 34 Szücs, "Three historical regions of Europe," 160.