The Study of Medieval Foreign Trade of Hungary:

A Historiographical Overview
1
Balzs Nagy (Central European University, Budapest)
Medieval foreign trade first entered the Hungarian historical discourse at the turn
of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
2
having previously been completely
neglected with only one or two exceptions.
3
The broad-based historical syntheses
(Gyula Pauler
4
, Sndor Szilgyi
5
) of that time were also somewhat scanty in their
treatment of the subject. This was not due to lack of information, but to the
authors low regard for the importance of foreign trade as a topic of study. The
reception of Hungarian foreign trade in foreign historical literature shows a
similar picture.
6
A series of developments at this time and in the following decades radically
altered the situation. One was the journal Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle
(Hungarian Economic History Review) which despite its short lifetime 1894 to
1906 proved highly influential. Another was the emergence of historians who
took an interest in economic and commercial history.
7
The Magyar
1 An earlier version of this essay has been published in Hungarian: Andrs Kubinyi, Jzsef
Laszlovszky, Pter Szab (eds.), Gazdasg s gazdlkods a kzpkori Magyarorszgon:
Gazdasgtrtnet, anyagi kultra, rgszet. [Economy and economic life in medieval
Hungary: Economic history, material culture, archaeology] Budapest 2008, pp. 253-260. The
text of this essay was translated by Alan Campbell.
2 The bibliographic references below are far from to be complete. They are rather to
demonstrate the major trends in the research. The interested reader can find further references
in the works listed below.
3 A notable exception: Imre Hajnik: Adalkok a magyar kereskedelem trtnethez a vegyes
hzakbeli kirlyok alatt [Contribution to the history of Hungarian foreign trade in the period
of different dynasties], in: Szzadok, 2 (1868), pp. 145164.
4 Gyula Pauler: A magyar nemzet trtnete az rpdhzi kirlyok alatt [The history of the
Hungarian nation under the rpdian kings] Budapest 1899, 12 vols.
5 A magyar nemzet trtnete [History of the Hungarian nation] ed. Sndor Szilgyi, Budapest,
18951898, 110 vols.
6 Theodor Mayer, Zur Frage des Wiener Stapelrechtes, in: Vierteljahrschrift fr Sozial- und
Wirtschaftsgeschichte 10, (1912), pp. 355382. Theodor Mayer, Der Auswrtige Handel des
Herzogtums sterreich im Mittelalter, Innsbruck 1909. Ion Nistor: Die auswrtigen
Handelsbeziehungen der Moldau im XIV., XV. und XVI. Jahrhundert, Gotha 1911. Ion
Nistor, Handel und Wandel in der Moldau bis zum Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts, Czernowitz
1912.
7 An overview of the essays published in the journal: A Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle
repertriuma [Repertory of the Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle] Ed. Elemr Vcz,
Budapest 1935, and A Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle repertriuma, 18941906
66 Balzs Nagy
Gazdasgtrtneti Szemle was founded by Alajos Paikert (18661948), who was
joined as editor in 1897 by Kroly Tagnyi (18581924). It made a considerable
contribution to the subject, particularly in publishing the history of the medieval
craft industry, foreign-sourced information on Hungarian-born merchants,
craftsmen and goods, and research in foreign archives and source publications on
medieval Hungary. It was also the first channel for appreciations and reviews of
Hungarian and foreign-language books on economic history. Many of its articles
which are mainly short are still worth studying today.
8
Ferenc Kovts (18731956) stands out among the historians who started
publishing in the early twentieth century. A professor at the universities of
Pressburg (modern Bratislava), Cluj and, for many decades, Szeged, he made
extensive investigations into medieval trade, particularly trade in the city of
Pressburg.
9
His treatment of the Pressburg thirtieth customs duty registers for
the years 14571458 is an enduring achievement.
10
The decades following the First World War brought new momentum to
research into medieval foreign trade. Much of the work published then is still
essential reading today, and includes the first syntheses on medieval Hungarian
foreign trade. Blint Hmans (18851951) first studies in economic and
monetary history appeared in the 1910s, including (in 1916) his monumental work
on the monetary history of Hungary in the period 10001325.
11
Five years later,
[Repertory of the Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle 18941906], ed. Lszl Mihly
Herndi, Budapest 1982. The first volume of Zeitschrift fr Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte
was published in 1893 just one year before start of Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle.
8 Among others see the essays of Lajos Kropf, Antal Pr, Ferenc Kovts, Bla Ivnyi s Aladr
Fest. Antal Pr: Klkereskedelmnk fellendlse a XIV. Szzadban [The prosperity of
foreign trade of Hungary in the 14th century], in: Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle, 10
(1903), pp. 433435. Lajos Kropf, Magyar bor Angliban a XIV. szzad vgn [Hungarian
wine in England at the end of 14th century], in: Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle, 5
(1898), p. 237. Lajos Kropf, Hamburg s a magyar kereskedk 1365-ben. [Hamburg and the
Hungarian merchants in 1365], in: Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi Szemle, 6 (1899), p. 49.
9 Ferenc Kovts, Handelsverbindungen zwischen Kln und Pressburg (Pozsony) im
Sptmittelalter, in: Mitteilungen aus dem Stadtarchiv von Kln, 35 (1914), pp. 232. Ferenc
Kovts, Vrosi adzs a kzpkorban. Pozsony szabad kirlyi vros levltrnak anyaga
alapjn [Urban taxation in the Middle Ages on the basis of the documents of the archive of
the free royal town of Pressburg], Pressburg 1900. Ferenc Kovts, Adalkok a dunai hajzs
s a dunai vmok trtnethez az Anjouk korban [Contribution to the history of Danube
navigation and the Danube customs in the Anjou period], in: Magyar Gazdasgtrtnelmi
Szemle, 8 (1901), pp. 460461. Ferenc Kovts, A kzpkori pnztrtnet vzlata [An outline
of medieval monetary history], Budapest 1901. Ferenc Kovts, A pozsonyi vrosgazdasg a
kzpkor vgn [The urban economy of Pressburg at the end of the Middle Ages], Pressburg
1918. Ferenc Kovts, A magyar arany vilgtrtneti jelentsege |World historical
significance of Hungarian gold], in: Trtneti Szemle, 11 (1922), pp. 104143. Ferenc
Kovts, Egyhz s vrosgazdasg a kzpkorban [Chruch and urban economy in the Middle
Ages], Szeged 1934.
10 Ferenc Kovts, Nyugatmagyarorszg ruforgalma a XV. Szzadban [Circulation of
commodities on Western Hungary in the 15th century], Budapest 1902.
11 Balint Homan, Az els allami egyenes ado, adalek az europai adotrtenethez |The Iirst direct
state tax: a contribution to the history of taxation in Europe ], in: Trtneti Szemle, 1 (1912),
The Study of Medieval Foreign Trade of Hungary 67
he published a study on financial and customs administration during the reign of
Charles Robert.
12
Hman later concentrated on other areas of medieval research,
but this early work remains an essential background for todays research.
13
In
addition, Hmans eminence and public prominence led to many of his books
being published abroad, mainly in Germany and Italy.
14
Since there is very little
foreign-language literature on the medieval Hungarian economy in general, let
alone foreign trade, is not surprising that his work is frequently cited even in
recent foreign literature.
15
Notable among the attempts at medieval economic and commercial history
syntheses between the wars is a review of the history of medieval trade by the
Piarist historian Istvn Miskolczy (18811937) and a study on the shift to trade
with the west in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by Ambrus Pleidell (1900
1935), working in the National Archives.
16
Trade in other directions than the west were also first treated independently in
this period. Dnes Huszti (19141996) dealt with commercial links between
Hungary and Italy in a book published in both Hungarian and Italian.
17
Another
study from the same period was that by Antal Fekete Nagy (19001969) on trade
between Hungary and Dalmatia.
18
Another author relevant here was primarily known as a historical geographer
rather than a historian. Lajos Glaser (19031944) reconstructed the medieval
pp. 161184. Balint Homan, Az els ado elmeletehez |Supplement to the theory oI the Iirst
tax], 1913. Blint Hman, Magyar pnztrtnet 10001325 [Monetary history of Hungary,
10001325], Budapest 1916. Reprint edition, Budapest 1991.
12 Blint Hman, A Magyar Kirlysg pnzgyei s gazdasgpolitikja Kroly Rbert korban.
[Monetary and economic history of the Hungarian Kingdom under Charles Robert] Budapest
1921. Reprint edition, Budapest 2003.
13 On the historiography of Hman see: Istvn Draskczy, Hman Blint, a gazdasgtrtnet
mvelje |Balint Homan, the scholar oI economic history| in: Gbor Ujvry (ed.), Trtneti
trtkels, Hman Blint, a trtnsz s a politikus, Budapest 2011, pp. 40-57.
14 Blint Hman, La circolazione delle monete doro in Ungheria dal X al XIV secolo et la crisi
europea dell oro nel secolo XIV. In: Rivista Italiana di Numismatica 5 (1922), pp. 148.
Blint Hman, Geschichte des ungarischen Mittelalters, Berlin 19401943, 12. vols.
15 Peter Spufford, Coinage and Currency, in: The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol.
2. Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages, 2nd ed., ed., Postan, M. M. & E. Miller,
Cambridge 1987, p. 948. Peter Spufford, Money and its Use in Medieval Europe, Cambridge
1988, p. 138. n. 3, 5. Ian Blanchard, Mining, Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages,
Vol. 3, Continuing Afro-European Supremacy, 12501450 (African Gold Production and the
Second and Third Silver Production Long-cycles) Stuttgart 2005, p. 966, n. 185186.
16 Istvn Miskolczy, A kzpkori kereskedelem trtnete [History of medieval trade] Budapest
1926. Ambrus Pleidell, A nyugatra irnyul magyar klkereskedelem a kzpkorban
[Western trade of Hungary in the Middle Ages] Budapest 1925.
17 Dnes Huszti, IV. Bla olaszorszgi vsrlsai [Puchases of Bla IV in Italy], in:
Kzgazdasgi Szemle 62 (1938), pp. 737770. Dnes Huszti, Mercanti italiani in Ungheria
nel medioevo. In: Corvina, 3 (1940), pp. 1040. Dnes Huszti: Olasz-magyar kereskedelmi
kapcsolatok a kzpkorban [Commercial connections of Italy and Hungary in the Middle
Ages], Budapest 1941.
18 Antal Fekete Nagy, A magyar-dalmt kereskedelem [The commerce of Dalmatia and
Hungary] Budapest 1926.
68 Balzs Nagy
routes in the west of the country, Transdanubia, in a work which sadly found few
followers.
19
Sndor Domanovszky (18771955), professor of history of culture in
Budapest between 1914 and 1948, took an interest in areas considerably beyond
his own field, and was responsible for lasting work on chronicles and on
economic and commercial history.
20
Beyond his significance as an author of
important works, Domanovszky founded a whole school of Hungarian economic
history.
21
His economic history studies undertaken in the second half of the 1910s
and the early 1920s are the most relevant to the present subject.
22
His inaugural
lecture to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences dealt with one of the most-
discussed and most-disputed subjects in the history of Hungarian foreign trade,
the origin of thirtieth customs duty.
23
The interwar period also saw publications by several historians who were to
dominate medieval foreign trade research after 1945. Emma Lederer (18971977)
published a book on the history of financial transactions in 1932, and Oszkr
Paulinyi (18991982) produced his early work on copper and gold mining
including their significance in foreign trade the next year.
24
Most of the works
mentioned were not of course confined to specific questions of medieval
19 Lajos Glaser, A Dunntl kzpkori thlzata [Road-system of Western Hungary in the
Middle Ages], in: Szzadok, 63 (1929), pp. 138167, 257285. Lszl Blazovich, Az Alfld
1416. szzadi thlzatnak vzlata [An outline of the 14th16th century road-system of
AlIld|, in: Tanulmanyok Csongrad megye trtenetebl, 26 (1998), pp. 5162. A recent study
on the medieval routes: Magdolna Szilgyi: The Sequence of Roman and Medieval
Communication Routes in Transdanubia. Annual of Medieval Sudies at CEU, 13 (2007), pp.
241262.
20 On the carrier of Domanovszky see the introduction of Ferenc Glatz in: Gazdasg s
trsadalom a kzpkorban cim tanulmanyktethez, ed. Ferenc Glatz, Budapest 1979, pp. 5
16.
21 Some members of the so-called Domanovszky-school later turned to the study of other
periods, but they usually kept their interest in economic history. E.g. Istvn Bakcs (1908
1991), Jen Berlasz (1911), Imre Wellmann (19091994).
22 Sndor Domanovszky, Mzsaszekr. [Mzsaszekr], in: Emlkknyv Fejrpataky Lszl
letenek hatvanadik, trtenetiroi mkdesenek negyvenedik, szeminariumi vezetta-
nrsgnak harmincadik vfordulja nnepre, ed. Imre Szentptery, Budapest 1917, pp. 37
74. Sndor Domanovszky: A szepesi vrosok rumegllt joga [The staple right of the towns
of Spi region], Budapest 1922.
23 Sndor Domanovszky, A harmincadvm eredete [Origin of the thirtieth customs duty],
Budapest 1916.
24 Emma Lederer: A kzpkori pnzgyletek trtnete Magyarorszgon (10001458) [History
of monetary transactions in Hungary 10001458], Budapest 1932. Oszkr Paulinyi, A
kzepkori magyar reztermeles gazdasagi jelentsege: Banyamveles es polgari vagyon
Besztercebnyn [The economic significance of medieval Hungarian copper production:
Mining and urban wealth in Bansk Bystrica], in: Emlkknyv Krolyi rpd szletse
nyolcvanadik forduljnak nnepre, Budapest 1933, pp. 402439. Oszkr Paulinyi,
Magyarorszg aranytermelse a XV. szzad vgn s a XVI. szzad derekn [Gold
production of Hungary at the end on the 15th century and in the mid-16th century], in: Gr.
Klebelsberg Kun Magyar Trtnetkutat Intzet vknyve, 1936, pp. 32142.
The Study of Medieval Foreign Trade of Hungary 69
Hungarian foreign trade, but they dealt with trade beyond the countrys borders as
part of a broader approach to economic history.
After the Second World War, few historians put Hungarys medieval foreign
trade at the centre of their research programme, despite the Marxist-inspired
political preference for economic history and related publications.
Research into foreign trade has become much more differentiated in the years
since then. This has partly involved a broadening of methodology, with
archaeological data having opened up new opportunities for study in economic
and commercial history. Prominent in this area is the work of Imre Holl and
Kroly Mesterhzy.
25
Lszl Zolnay (19161985), although principally an
archaeologist, produced important work on foreign trade based more on written
than archaeological sources.
26
Several basic studies have concentrated on single important foreign trade
links. Zsuzsa Teke wrote several times about Hungarys fourteenth and fifteenth
century trade links with Italian cities, above all Venice and Florence, and about
the affairs of Italian merchants in Hungary.
27
Recently, Krisztina Arany has drawn
on the Florentine Catasto of 1427, and subsequent censuses, to unravel fifteenth
century Florentine-Hungarian trade links and the role of Florentine merchant
families in Buda.
28
Katalin Prajda also published recently some enlightening
25 Some example from the many works: Imre Holl, Klfldi kermia Magyarorszgon, XIII
XVI. Szzad [Foreign pottery on Hungary, 13th 16th centuries], in: Budapest Rgisgei, 16
(1955), pp. 147197. Karoly Mesterhazy, Bizanci es balkani eredet targyak a 1011. szzadi
magyar srleletekben [Objects from the territory of the Byzantine Empire and from the Bal-
kans in 10th- 11th century burial sites], in: Folia archaeologica, 41 (1990), pp. 87115; 42
(1991), pp. 145177. Kroly Mesterhzy, Rgszeti adatok Magyarorszg 1011. szzadi
kereskedelmhez [Archaeological data to the commerce of Hungary in the 10th11th
centuries], in: Szzadok, 127 (1993), pp. 450468.
26 Lszl Zolnay, Istvn ifjabb kirly szmadsa 1264-bl |Statement oI Stephen, junior king
from 1264], in: Budapest Rgisgei, 21 (1964), pp. 79114.
27 Zsuzsa Teke, Velencei-magyar kereskedelmi kapcsolatok a XIIIXV. Szzadban [Venetian-
Hungarian commercial connections in the 13th 15th centuries], Budapest 1979. Zsuzsa
Teke, Firenzei zletemberek Magyarorszgon 13731403 [Florentiner merchants in Hungary
1373-1403], in: Trtnelmi Szemle 37 (1995), pp. 129150. Zsuzsa Teke, Firenzei
zletemberek Magyarorszgon a XIV. szzad vgn s a XV. szzad elejn [Florentine
merchants on Hungary at the end of the 14th and at the beginning of the 15th century], in: A
gazdasgtrtnet kihvsai: Tanulmnyok Berend T. Ivn 65. szletsnapjra, eds. Jnos Buza
/Tams Csat / Sndor Gyimesi, Budapest 1996, pp. 2128. Zsuzsa Teke, Firenzei
kereskedtarsasagok, kereskedk Magyarorszgon Zsigmond uralmnak megszilrdulsa
utn 140437 [Florentine commercial companies and merchants in Hungary after the
consolidation of the rule of Sigismund 14041437], in: Szzadok, 129 (1995), pp. 195214.
28 Krisztina Arany, Success and Failure Two Florentine Merchant Families in Buda during the
Reign of King Sigismund (13871437), in: Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU, eds. Katalin
Szende / Judith A. Rasson, 12 (2006), pp. 101123. Krisztina Arany, Generations Abroad.
Florentine Merchant Families in Hungary in the First Half of the Fifteenth Century, in:
Generations in Towns. Succession and Success in Pre- Industrial Urban Societies, eds. Finn-
Einar Eliassen / Katalin Szende, Cambridge 2009, pp. 129153.
70 Balzs Nagy
studies on the presence of Florentine businessmen in Hungary based on Italian
archival material.
29
The traditional view that Hungarian historiography concentrates solely on
Western and Italian foreign trade links is not borne out by a review of the
literature. Zsigmond Pl Pach (19192001), for example, wrote several times on
trade with the Levant.
30
Over the past few decades, there have also been studies of specific important
commodities. Gyrgy Szkely wrote extensive papers in 1968 and 1975 on the
trade of broadcloth from various European regions.
31
Andrs Kubinyi has dealt
with iron, wine and salt, among others, Istvn Draskczy researched trade in salt,
and Katalin Szende wrote on trade in honey.
32
A notable trend in historiography over recent decades is the appearance of
substantial work on trade links by medievalists for whom the subject is a
subsidiary field of enquiry. One of these was Elemr Mlyusz (18981989),
whose late studies of livestock exports to Bavaria had much to say about trade in
29 Katalin Prajda, Levelez zletemberek. Firenzeiek a Zsigmond korban [Merchants in
correspondence, Florentiners in the Sigismund period], Szzadok, 144 (2010), pp. 301334.
Katalin Prajda, The Florentine Scolari Family at the Court of Sigismund of Luxemburg in
Buda, Journal of Early Modern History, 14 (2010), pp. 513533.
30 Pl Zsigmond Pach, Egy vszzados trtnszvitrl: thaladt-e a levantei kereskedelem tja
a kzpkori Magyarorszgon? [About a century-long debate of historians: did the Levantine
trade route cross medieval Hungary?], in: Szzadok, 106 (1972), pp. 849888. Pl Zsigmond
Pach, A levantei kereskedelem erdlyi tvonala I. Lajos s Zsigmond korban [The
Transylvanian route of the Levantine trade during the reign of Louis I and Sigismund], in:
Szzadok, 109 (1975), pp. 331.
31 Gyrgy Szkely, A nmetalfldi s angol poszt fajtinak elterjedse a XIIIXVII. szzadi
Kzp-Eurpban [The circulation of broadcloth from the Low Countries and from England
in the 13th17th century Central Europe], in: Szzadok, 102 (1968), pp. 331. Gyrgy
Szkely, Posztfajtk a nmet s nyugati szlv terletekrl a kzepkori Magyarorszagon
[Types of broadcloth from German and western Slavic territories in medieval Hungary], in:
Szzadok, 109 (1975), pp. 765792.
32 Andrs Kubinyi, Der Eisenhandel in den ungarischen Stdten des Mittelalters, in: Stadt und
Eisen, ed. Ferdinand Opll, Linz 1992, pp. 197206. Andrs Kubinyi, Weinbau und
Weinhandel in den ungarischen Stdten im Sptmittelalter und in der frhen Neuzeit, in:
Stadt und Wein, ed. Ferdinand Opll, Linz 1996, pp. 6784. Andrs Kubinyi, Knigliches
Salzmonopol und die Stdte des Knigreichs Ungarn im Mittelalter, in: Stadt und Salz, ed.
Wilhelm Rausch, Linz 1988, pp. 213232. Istvn Draskczy, Szempontok az erdlyi
sbnyszat 1516. szzadi trtnethez. [Considerations to the 15th-16th century history of
salt mining in Transylvania], in: Studia professoris professor studiorum. Tanulmnyok
rszegi Gza hatvanadik szletsnapjra, eds. Tibor Almsi / Istvn Draskczy / va Jancs,
Budapest 2005, pp. 83117. Istvn Draskczy, Nyrbtor s Sopron. Az rumegllt jog s a
s a 1415. szzadi Magyarorszgon [Nyrbtor and Sopron. Staple right and salt in 14th-15th
century Hungary], in: Szabolcs-Szatmr-Beregi Szemle, 41 (2006), pp. 251265. Katalin
Szende: Adatok szaknyugat-Dunntl mzkereskedelmhez a ks-kzpkorban. [Data
relating to the history of honey trade of North-Western Transdanubia in the late Middle Ages]
In: Arrabona, 36 (1998), pp. 8598.
The Study of Medieval Foreign Trade of Hungary 71
the Hungarian golden florin and the issue of the balance of trade.
33
Erik Fgedi
(19161992) made significant insights into the history of foreign trade in his
paper on trade to and Irom Kassa (Kosice, Slovakia), and another on the debate
about the countrys late medieval trade balance.
34
The sections on history of trade
in the enormous books on the historical geography of rpd-era Hungary by
Gyrgy Gyrffy (19172000) in themselves constitute a considerable contribution
to several aspects of our subject, as do the corresponding parts of his work on the
historical geography of rpd-era settlements on the site of modern Budapest.
35
Two major works by Jen Szcs (19281988) are essential reading for anyone
engaged in the commercial history of the period. One, a book containing copious
data on the fifteenth-century urban economy (1955), dates from the beginning of
his career; the other is a posthumously-published monograph on the final period
of the rpd Era (1993). The latter work presents Hungarys transforming
position in the international economic and commercial life of the second half of
the thirteenth century.
36
The history of the medieval development of a town can throw up much
information of more than local significance, and in many cases tells us something
about the foreign trade relations of a wider region or the kingdom as a whole.
Andrs Kubinyis book on the late medieval history of Budapest and other related
studies stand as a prime example of this.
37
Other studies of cities foreign trade
links include Zsuzsa Teke`s on Kosice, Katalin Szende`s on Sopron and, most
33 Elemr Mlyusz, Bajororszgi llatkivitelnk a XIVXV. szzadban [Hungarian livestock
export of Bavaria in the 14th15th centuries], in: Agrrtrtneti Szemle 28 (1986), pp. 133.
34 Erik Fgedi, Kaschau, eine osteuropische Handelsstadt am Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts, in:
Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 2 (1956), pp. 185213. Erik Fgedi,
Magyarorszg klkereskedelme a XVI. szzad elejn [Foreign trade of Hungary at the
beginning of the 16th century], in: Agrrtrtneti Szemle, 11 (1969), pp. 117. New edition:
Erik Fgedi, Koldul bartok, polgrok, nemesek. Tanulmnyok a magyar kzpkorrl,
Budapest 1981, pp. 364386.
35 Gyrgy Gyrffy, Az rpd-kori Magyarorszg trtneti fldrajza [Historocal geography of
the rpd-period Hungary], Budapest 1963. Gyrgy Gyrffy, Budapest trtnete az rpd-
korban. [History of Budapest in the rpdian period], in: Gerevich Lszl (ed.), Budapest
trtnete I., Budapest 1975.
36 Jen Szcs, Varosok es kezmvesseg a XV. szazadi Magyarorszagon. |Towns and artisanship
in 15th century Hungary| Budapest 1955. Jen Szcs, Az utolso Arpadok |The last
rpdians], Budapest 2002.
37 Andras Kubinyi, Budapest trtenete a kesbbi kzepkorban Buda elestig (1541-ig) [History
of Budapest in the later Middle Ages until the fall of Buda (1541)], in: Budapest trtnete a
kesbbi kzepkorban es a trk hodoltsag idejen, ed. Laszlo Gerevich / Domokos Kosary,
Budapest 1975. 9240. Andrs Kubinyi, Budai kereskedk udvari szallitasai a Jagello-
korban [Sales of the Buda merchants to the royal courst in the Jagiellonian period], in:
Budapest Rgisgei, 19 (1959), pp. 99119. Andrs Kubinyi, Die Nrnberger Haller in Ofen.
Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Sdosthandels im Sptmittelalter, in: Mitteilungen des
Vereines fr Geschichte der Stadt Nrnberg, 5253 (19631964), pp. 80128. Andrs
Kubinyi, Buda s Pest szerepe a tvolsgi kereskedelemben a 1516. szzad forduljn [The
role of Buda and Pest in the long distance trade at the turn of 15th and 16th ceuntries], in:
Trtnelmi Szemle, 36 (1994), pp. 152.
72 Balzs Nagy
recently, Renta Skorkas on the foreign economic role of Pressburg in the first
half of the fifteenth century.
38
To date, there has been only one modern attempt at an overall economic-
history synthesis of medieval Hungary, including foreign trade. Istvn
Draskczys Magyarorszg gazdasgtrtnete a honfoglalstl a 20. szzad
kzepig (The economic history of Hungary from the Conquest to the mid-
twentieth century) has a 60-page chapter on the history of the Hungarian economy
from the Hungarian Conquest up to the sixteenth century.
39
This features an
extensive bibliography and covers every branch of economic life, which of course
means that only brief sub-chapters deal with the history of foreign trade.
Besides this all-embracing work, several notable studies have addressed
debates surrounding medieval Hungarian economic and commercial history,
especially the much-analysed issue of the late medieval Hungarian trade balance.
A paper published by Oszkr Paulinyi in 1972 provoked a heated response, and its
controversial subtitle, Gazdag fld szegny orszg (Rich Land Poor Country),
constantly recurs in debates on the subject
40
and became the title for a collection
of Paulinyis studies on mining history.
41
Partially following Ferenc Kovts,
Paulinyi drew on the most-cited source of medieval Hungarian foreign trade, the
14571458 Pressburg thirtieth register, to determine that Hungarian foreign trade
ran a deep deficit which could only be settled by the trade in money stemming
from Hungarian precious metal mining, specifically the golden florin. Paulinyis
thesis inspired many other studies and publications. In the 1980s, following the
appearance of the paper which prompted the controversies, Elemr Mlyusz and
then Andrs Kubinyi put forward arguments which to some extent departed from
Paulinyis.
42
38 Zsuzsa Teke, Kassa klkereskedelme az 13931405. vi kassai bri knyv bejegyzsei
alapjn [Foreign trade of Koice on the basis of the registry of the 13931405 magistrates
book], in: Szzadok, 137 (2003), pp. 381404. Katalin G. Szende, Klni kereskedk a
kzpkori Sopronban [Cologne merchants in medieval Sopron], in: Tanulmnyok Csatkai
Endre emlkre, ed. Attila Krnyei / Katalin Szende, Sopron 1996, pp. 5770. Katalin G.
Szende, Sopron (denburg): A West-Hungarian Merchant Town on the Crossroad between
East and West?, Scripta Mercaturae, 31/2 (1997), pp. 29-49. Renta Skorka, Pozsony
gazdasagi szerepe a 15. szazad els Ieleben a zalogszerzdesek tkrben [Economic role of
Pressburg on the basis of the pledge contracts in the first half of the 15th cenrtury], in:
Szzadok, 138 (2004), pp. 433463.
39 Istvn Draskczy, A honfoglalstl a 16. szzadig [From the conquest of the country until the
16th century], in: Magyarorszg gazdasgtrtnete a honfoglalstl a 20. szzad kzepig, ed.
Jnos Honvri, Budapest 1996, pp. 580.
40 Oszkr Paulinyi, Nemesfmtermelsnk s orszgos gazdasgunk ltalnos alakulsa a
bontakoz s a kifejlett feudalizmus korszakban (10001526) Gazdag fld szegny orszg
[Hungarian precious metal production and the formation of the countrys economic
conditions in the period of early and high feudalism, 10001526, Rich Land Poor Country],
in: Szzadok, 106 (1972), pp. 561608.
41 Oszkr Paulinyi, Gazdag fld szegny orszg [Rich Land Poor Country], eds. Jnos Buza
/ Istvn Draskczy, Budapest 2005, pp. 183227.
42 Elemr Mlyusz, Bajororszgi llatkivitelnk a XIVXV. Szzadban [Hungarian livestock
export of Bavaria in the 14th 15th centuries], in: Agrrtrtneti Szemle 28 (1986), pp. 133.
The Study of Medieval Foreign Trade of Hungary 73
The surviving sources on the levying of thirtieth customs duty constitute some
of the best vantage points for assessing late medieval Hungarian foreign trade. In
the 1990s, Pl Zsigmond Pach devoted several papers to the origin and medieval
development of this customs duty.
43
Research into customs duty and customs
stations has also found a place in other historians programmes in recent years.
Boglrka Weisz has investigated the history of several rpd Era customs
stations, and Istvn Draskczy those of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
44
Independent research conducted outside Hungary has also made considerable
contribution to the history of the countrys medieval external trade. This includes
work published by Hungarian historians living abroad.
45
Historians of other
Andrs Kubinyi, Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Probleme in den Beziehungen Ungarns zum
Westen am Ende des Mittelalters, in: Westmitteleuropa, Ostmitteleuropa. Vergleiche und
Beziehungen. Festschrift fr Ferdinand Seibt zum 65. Geburtstag (Verffentlichungen des
Collegium Carolinum 70), ed. Winfried Eberhard, Munich 1992, pp. 165174. Andrs
Kubinyi, A kes-kzpkori magyar-nyugati kereskedelmi kapcsolatok krdse [The problem
of the Hungarian -Western trade in the late Middle Ages], in: R. Vrkonyi gnes
Emlkknyv, ed. Pter Tusor, Budapest 1998, pp. 109117.
43 Pl Zsigmond Pach: A harmincadvm eredete [Origin of the thirtieth customs duty] Budapest
1990. Pl Zsigmond Pach, Hogyan lett a harmincadvmbl huszad? (14361457) [How the
thirtieth customs duty turned to be twentieth?], in: Trtnelmi Szemle, 37 (1995), pp. 257
276. Pl Zsigmond Pach, A harmincadvam Erdelyben es HavasalIldn a 15. szazad els
felben [The thirtieth customs duty in Translyvania and in Wallachia in the first half of the
15th century], in: Trtnelmi Szemle, 40 (1998), 3341. Pl Zsigmond Pach, A
harmincadvm az Anjou-korban s a 1415. szzad forduljn [The thirtieth customs duty in
the Anjou-period and at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries], in: Trtnelmi Szemle 41
(1999), pp. 231277.
44 Boglrka Weisz, A vsr s a vm rpd-kori trvnyeinkben [Fair and customs in the laws
of rpdian period Hungary], in: Tanulmnyok a kzpkorrl, eds. Boglrka Weisz / Lszl
Balogh / Jzsef Szarka, Szeged 2001, pp. 169182. Boglrka Weisz, Az esztergomi vm
rpd-kori trtnete [The history of the customs of Esztergom in therpdian period], in:
Szzadok, 137 (2003), pp. 973981. Boglrka Weisz, Bars megye vmhelyei az rpd-
korban [Customs stations of Bars county in the rpdian period], in: Acta Universitatis
Szegediensis de Attila Jzsef Nominate. Acta Historica, 115 (2001), pp. 1322. Boglrka
Weisz, II. Andrs vmmentessg-adomnyai vilgiak szmra [Donations of customs-free
status to lay people by Andreas II], in: Acta Universitatis Szegediensis de Attila Jzsef
Nominate. Acta Historica, 113 (2001), pp. 4150. Boglrka Weisz, A gyri vam Arpad-kori
trtnete |The history oI the customs station oI Gyr in the Arpadian period|, in:
Kzpkortrtneti tanulmnyok, ed. Boglrka Weisz, Szeged 2003, pp. 227236. Istvn
Draskczy, A somosi vm a 1314. Szzadban [The customs of Somos in the 13th14th
centuries], in: R. Vrkonyi gnes emlkknyv szletsnek 70. vforduljra, ed. Tusor
Pter, Budapest 1998, pp. 5056. Istvn Draskczy, Sros megye vmhelyei a 14. szzadban
[Customs stations of Sros county in the 14th century], in: Tanulmnyok Borsa Ivn
tiszteletre, ed. Enik Csukovits, Budapest 1998, pp. 4561.
45 The works of two historians living in Romania should be mentioned here: Mria Pakucs,
Erdely del Iele iranyulo IszerIorgalma a 16. szazad els Ieleben (Brasso es Nagyszeben
szerepe a tvolsgi kereskedelemben) [Southern trade of spices of Transylvania in the first
half of the 16th century. The role of Bra and Sibiu in the long distance trade], in: Sic Itur
ad Astra, 13 (2002), pp. 4764. Mria Pakucs-Willcocks: Sibiu Hermannstadt: Oriental
Trade in Sixteenth Century Transylvania, Cologne 2007. Zsolt Simon, A baricsi s klpnyi
74 Balzs Nagy
nationalities within the Carpathian Basin have also addressed issues that touch on
medieval Hungarian trade. Samuil Goldenberg, for example, has researched trade
carried on with other countries by Transylvanian towns, especially Cluj and Sibiu,
and Ondrej Halaga (19182011) that of Kosice.
46
There are also several other
foreign historians not born in the region who have analysed various aspects of
Hungarian foreign trade. One of these, the economic historian Wolfgang von
Stromer (19221999), the late professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg,
certainly exercised a great influence on Hungarian historians. Stromer dealt above
all with the influence of south German capital and merchants, mainly from
Nuremberg.
47
Ian Blanchard, professor of the University of Edinburgh, has
studied the medieval Hungarian economy in connection with the late medieval
cattle trade and the history of mining and minting.
48
Recently Andrea Fara, a
younger historian from Italy published a synthesis of the medieval economy of
Transylvania discussing also the medieval commerce of this region.
49
They, however, are rare exceptions, and the foreign-language literature on
medieval Hungarian foreign trade is still very limited. Several Hungarian
historians have published in foreign or foreign-language Hungarian journals and
written chapters for numerous books. Set against these somewhat haphazard
appearances are two major compilations spanning the medieval, late-medieval and
early modern periods. A book published by Ingomar Bog in 1971 has 27 chapters,
six by Hungarian historians (Gyz Ember, Erik Fgedi, Andras Kubinyi, Laszlo
Makkai, Istvn N. Kiss and Oszkr Paulinyi); six other chapters are devoted
foreign trade with specific areas of historic Hungary.
50
The editors of the other
English-language book, as indicated by its title, saw the Central European region
as fundamentally comprising Hungary, Bohemia and Poland.
51
There were three
harmincadok a 16. szzad elejn [The thirtieth stations of Barics and Klpny at the
beginning of the 16th century], in: Szzadok, 140 (2006), pp. 815882.
46 Samuil Goldenberg, Der Sdhandel in den Zollrechnungen von Sibiu (Hermannstadt) im 16.
Jahrhundert, in: Revue des tudes sud-est europennes, 2 (1964), pp. 385421. Samuil
Goldenberg: Comer|ul, produc|ia si consumul de postavuri de ln n |rile romne (sec. XIV-
jumt. sec. XVII), in: Studii, 24. (1971), pp. 877898. Samuil Goldenberg, Der Handel
Transilvaniens vom 14. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert, in: Scripta Mercaturae, 11 (1977), pp. 523.
Ondrej R.Halaga, Kaufleute und Handelsgter der Hanse im Karpatengebiet, in: Hansische
Geschichtsbltter, 85 (1967), pp. 5984. Ondrej R. Halaga, Koice Balt. Vroba a obchod v
styku vchodoslovenskch miest s Pruskom (12751526), Koice 1975.
47 It is enough to refer here the three-volume opus magnum of Stromer. Wolfgang von Stromer:
Oberdeutsche Hochfinanz, 13501450, 13. Vols, Wiesbaden 1970.
48 Ian Blanchard, The Continental European Cattle Trades, 14001600, in: Economic History
Review, Second Series, 39 (1986), pp. 427460. Ian Blanchard, Mining, Metallurgy and
Minting in the Middle Ages, 13 vols., Stuttgart 20012005.
49 Andrea Fara, La formazione di un'economia di frontiera: la Transilvania tra XII e XIV secolo,
Naples 2010.
50 Der Aussenhandel Ostmitteleuropas 14501650: Die ostmitteleuropischen
Volkswirtschaften in ihren Beziehungen zu Mitteleuropa, ed. Ingomar Bog, Cologne 1971.
51 East-Central Europe in Transition from the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century (Studies in
Modern Capitalism, Past and Present Publications), ed. Antoni Mazak / Henryk
Samsonowicz / Peter Burke, Cambridge 1985.
The Study of Medieval Foreign Trade of Hungary 75
Hungarian contributors, Erik Fgedi, Lszl Makkai and Istvn N. Kiss, but their
chapters were concerned with aspects of economic history other than foreign
trade. Nonetheless, for foreign readers, these two books are the most concentrated
sources of information on the Hungarian economy and its foreign trade in the late
medieval and early modern periods.
The most recent attempt to give a synthetizing overview of the economic life
of medieval Hungary has been published in 2008.
52
Andrs Kubinyi, one of the
most acknowledged scholars of medieval Hungarian history and especially of
economic history and his colleagues, Jzsef Laszlovszky and Pter Szab edited a
volume on medieval economy of Hungary. In this volume 24 different authors
summarised the recent results of their field of specialisation, including not only
the typical approaches of economic history, like agrarian production, craft
industry and commerce, but other areas as well. A significant novelty of this book
was that it covered fields like climatology, historical demography,
zooarchaeology and water management, but in each chapter tried to use not only
written sources but to include also archaeological evidences to its argumentation.
52 Andrs Kubinyi / Jzsef Laszlovszky / Pter Szab (eds.), Gazdasg s gazdlkods a
kzpkori Magyarorszgon: Gazdasgtrtnet, anyagi kultra, rgszet [Economy and
economic life in medieval Hungary: Economic history, material culture, archaeology],
Budapest 2008.