An apparent paradox: wool as an alternative currency for merchants and weavers in Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in the 15th century
- Nenad Fejic
- © 2024 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.20
This article examines the use of wool as an alternative currency in Dubrovnik in the first half of the 15th century. The actors of this practice were Catalan merchants who advanced wool to local weavers. In return, the weavers had to refund the credit by transforming the wool into fabrics. The quantity of fabrics returned was always greater than the quantity that could be produced from the wool received. This use of wool as an alternative currency corresponded to the mining prosperity in the Balkans. Silver, a precious metal, was exported by the Catalans, rather than being used to finance local wool production, which therefore had to resort to a local financing circuit, where wool, in the absence of silver currency, served as an alternative currency.
- Keywords:
- Dubrovnik,
- Catalans,
- wool,
- silver,
- currency,
- ,
University of the French West Indies and Guiana, France
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Chapter Information
Chapter Title
An apparent paradox: wool as an alternative currency for merchants and weavers in Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in the 15th century
Authors
Nenad Fejic
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.20
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Mezzi di scambio non monetari. Merci e servizi come monete alternative nelle economie dei secoli XIII-XVIII / Alternative currencies. Commodities and services as exchange currencies in the monetarized economies of the 13th to 18th centuries
Editors
Angela Orlandi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
592
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0346-3
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0347-0
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0348-7
Series Title
Datini Studies in Economic History
Series ISSN
2975-1241
Series E-ISSN
2975-1195