Nobility and calculations in the late middle ages

The objects of the requested research project are aristocratic calculation records from the region Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino for the period 1250 through 1500 A.D. The result to be realized i.e. achieved as fully as possible is the complete ascertainable evaluation of the remaining source materials, so that knowledge about the time table of the application, of the development and geographic records distribution of the aristocratic calculations in the noted region can be gained. Through the use of an exact description of the sources as regards the writing materials, the size and scope, type, structure and coming into being of the calculations can be analyzed. The detailed content of the research of the traditional calculations directly points to an in-depth analysis of the organization and management practices of aristocratic land holdings. In addition the possibility of registration and identification of the involved functionaries can be achieved. The in-depth evaluation of the sources should further enable an intense occupation with the socioeconomic basis of the nobility. Also the transfer from barter to monetary economic methods is to be observed in detail because here a close connection with the use and spreading application of written records is apparent.

The research project dealt with calculations of the non-princely nobility in the county of Tyrol from the beginnings up to 1500. In contrast to the earlier series of the "Tiroler Raitbücher", the princely Tyrolean calculation books, which are handed down in complete sequence between 1288 and the 1360s and in the research literature are already discussed in detail, calculations of the non-princely nobility in Tyrol similar to other regions were up to now scarcely detected and even less researched. Within the framework of the presented project these sources provided a basis to investigate the economical situation of diverse noble families as well as the organisational and administrative structures of manorial systems. The project, which aimed at a collection of the relevant source materials as complete as possible, brought to light an amazing number of calculations of the nobility, preserved in diverse private and public archives and libraries. In this regard with over 170 discovered objects (calculation books as well as single pages) the expectations were outnumbered by far. 40 per cent of these calculations have a small extent and contain up to 4 folia, 57 per cent have between 5 and 100 folia and only 3 per cent of the calculations form voluminous books with more than 100 folia. Apart from very early accounts of revenues, 7 per cent of the dated pieces come from the years between 1350 and 1400, 18 per cent from those between 1400 and 1450 and 75 per cent from the time between 1450 and 1500. The collected calculations were analysed in detail with regard to form as well as to content whereupon different methods of auxiliary sciences, like codicology or diplomatics, were used, which up to now were very seldom implemented in connection with sources of that kind. Within the timeframe investigated the formal arrangement of the calculations passed through a longer development process. The most ancient documents, dating from the 13th century and written consistently on parchment, still represent mere accounts of revenues. Subsequently the calculations of the nobility took that professional form, which can also be found in the contemporaneous princely Tyrolean calculation books. They are statements of revenues and expenditures on paper, mostly in small folio with clearly marked items, however lacking the tabular character, with the amounts moved over to the right margin and the Arabic numerals, which do not appear until the most recent of the investigated calculation books, at the end of the 15th century. The analysis concerning the contents of the calculations thus complex within the framework of the project only could be carried out selective, for example with regard to expenses for building measures on castles, the size of noble households etc.