Trade in the Age of Mercantilism

The project initiated by the applicant serves basic research on the history of trade in early modern Lower Austria and its neighbouring countries. However, because of the importance of the towns of Krems and Linz as trading centers for the Danube trade and in northern direction to Poland and the lands of the Bohemian Crown, and because of the great area covered by the merchants trading in Krems, the topic by far extends beyond narrow regional history. On the basis of the registers of the City Scales and the Staple books (Waag- und Niederlagsbücher) preserved to a considerable extent in Krems, which are supplemented by more fragmentary sources from Linz, the type and quantity of traded goods as well as the persons, companies and institutions involved in the trade and their origins can be determined. These data will allow us to draw a much more precise picture of mercantile activities in the Austrian Danube region and its connections with the adjacent regions than was possible before, thereby contributing to integrating a previously barely recognized economic area into the wider research on economic history. A pilot project financed by the Province of Lower Austria not only facilitated the digitalization of the source materials, the development of a project database and further planning, but also contributes to the editing of some of the data. In the project phase proposed here, the main part of the work is to be conducted: the greater part of the data input, revision and putting online of the database, the scientific evaluation of the material and its publication as well as the organization of a conference on trade in pre-industrial times.

The annual fairs of the city of Krems were one of the most important early modern emporia within the Austrian Danube countries. Many merchants from the growing Imperial capital of Vienna, Lower and Upper Austria but also from the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia), Poland (Cracow) and from the Imperial Cities of Upper Germany (Nuremberg, Ratisbon, Augsburg) or from former Bavaria (like Braunau, today part of Upper Austria) conducted business in Krems. Moreover, tradesmen from the Tyrol, Switzerland, Salzburg, Saxony and of parts of Italy visited the fairs of Krems.The City Scales and the Staple books (Waag- and Niederlagsbücher) of Krems passed down for the period between 1621 and 1737 (incompletely) contain more than 21,500 trade relations. This data allow us to draw a much more precise picture of mercantile activities in the Austrian Danube region and its connections with the adjacent regions than was possible before. By transferring these books into an online database the project made one of the most important sources on the history of trade in early modern Lower Austria and its neighbouring countries accessible to the public