Mining, Finances, and Commerce in Medieval Central Europe

Abstract

This chapter highlights urban production and commerce in medieval Central Europe. It comparatively addresses the circumstances that prompted the region’s trade, such as minting, credit management, and monetary reforms. Mining and the extraction of mineral wealth had particular importance in the countries of medieval Central Europe, especially precious metal production in the Czech lands and Hungary and salt and lead production in Poland. Mining particularly faced technological challenges and was also a field for introducing technological innovations. Mining production required significant monetary investments, thus there are some examples of large-scale financial investors. Royal finances also derived an essential part of their income from activities connected to mining and salt production. The chapter then focuses on the flow of locally and trans-regionally exchanged goods, and touches upon long-distance routes that connected Central Europe with other parts of Europe. This raises some new questions, such as common difficulties in urban production and commerce, indicating some new types of primary sources that need to be scrutinized in future research.