Thomas Max Safley - Family Firms and Merchant Capitalism in Early Modern Europe: The Business, Bankruptcy and Resilience of the Hoechstetters of Augsburg

This fascinating study follows the fortunes of the Hchstetter family, merchant-manufacturers and financiers of Augsburg, Germany, in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries, and sheds light on the economic and social history of failure and resilience in early modern Europe. Carefully tracing the chronology of the familys rise, fall and transformation, it moves from the micro- to the macro-level, making comparisons with other mercantile families of the time to draw conclusions and suggest insights into such issues as social mobility, capitalist organization, business techniques, market practices and economic institutions. The result is a microhistory that offers macro-conclusions about the lived experience of early capitalism and capitalistic practices.

This book will be valuable reading for advanced students and researchers of economic, financial and business history, legal history and early modern European history.

Thomas Max Safley is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Edited by Lars Magnusson, Uppsala University, Sweden

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Family Firms and Merchant Capitalism in Early Modern Europe
The Business, Bankruptcy and Resilience of the Hchstetters of Augsburg
Thomas Max Safley

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The Business, Bankruptcy and Resilience of the Hchstetters of Augsburg

Thomas Max Safley

First published 2020
by Routledge
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2020 Thomas Max Safley

The right of Thomas Max Safley to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN: 978-0-367-13710-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-02820-5 (ebk)

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In most important commercial and financial centers of Europe, many kinds of money circulated regularly. In Augsburg, for example, traders frequently encountered the Imperial Taler , the Bohemian Groschen and the Munich Schilling, among many others. During the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries, according to Elsas, the city minted and used the Pfund , Schilling , Pfennig and Heller , in which 1 Pfund = 20 Schilling = 60 Pfennigen = 120 Heller . Only in 1539 did the Pfund disappear from accounts, though it remained a common coin in circulation, to be replaced by the Gulden , abbreviated fl, Kreutzer , abbreviated kr, and Pfennig . Not until 1546 did the Heller , abbreviated hl, reappear in place of the Pfennig .

The matter of money is not so straightforward, however. In nearly all accounts rendered by the Hchstetters, their creditors or the authorities, sums owed or paid appear as Gulden, Kreutzer and Heller , all coinage reforms notwithstanding. Moreover, parties to the bankruptcy recorded even more varieties of money, all of which had to be specifically recorded in the proceedings. The following equivalencies apply as a general rule:

• 1 Gulden (fl) = 60 Kreutzer (kr) = 420 Heller (hl); 1 Kreutzer = 7 Heller .
• 1 Gulden = 15 Batzen = 60 Kreutzer ; 1 Batzen = 4 Kreutzer .
• 1 Gulden = 60 Kreutzer = 210 Pfennigen (pf); 1 Kreutzer = 3.5 Pfennigen .
• 1 Gulden = 30 Schilling () = 360 Heller ; 1 Schilling = 12 Heller .

Unless noted, all money values have been rendered in Gulden and Kreutzer , just as the historical accounts of the Hchstetter firm and its bankruptcy were kept. For the readers ease, these are usually rounded to the nearest Gulden in the text.

It is a common practice among scholars to provide the original texts from which they have made translations. This enables the attentive reader who is familiar with the languages to reach independent conclusions about the accuracy of the authors interpretations. In the present volume, historical sources are quoted at considerable length. To achieve a degree of economy and relieve the text of many, long, possibly intrusive notes, I decided to include the original language only when translating unpublished archival sources, that is, sources that did not make the original text and language available in an easily accessible form. Should questions of translations arise, I beg the readers indulgence and encourage her or him to make use of the original texts as they appear in the cited, published editions.