Goods in probate inventories of Cracow burghers at the turn of the early-modern period

Abstract

The paper examines the merchandise recorded in the inventories of goods. The wares could be divided into two main categories. The first includes a particular artisan’s own production as well as purchased raw materials and intermediate products used for crafting. The second consists of goods acquired by stallholders and merchants for retail or further distribution. The attempt of such classification explores, through several examples, the world of commodities depicted in the inventories of goods, showing also the work invested in their production.The analysis of the retail products indicates also the scale of the business of particular craftsmen and vendors. The inventories of goods recording the possessions stored in various Cracow town houses and market stalls document the wholesale purchasing of the merchandise for retail. The size of a business is best depicted in the variety of the goods acquired for sale and in the estimates given during the inventory. The thorough examination of the various categories of wares, their retail prices and estimates, allows to investigate the sums invested in the tradable goods. The purpose of the study is to show, in this paper on the several examples, the characteristics of the stallholding and merchant trading in Cracow, viewed as a large urban centre in less urbanised East-Central Europe. The analysed material consist of 314 inventories, both the probate inventories and the inventories of sequestered goods, registered between 1476 and 1525 in the records of the Cracow’s vogt.