Hindadest Tallinnas 15. sajandil [Prices in Tallinn during the fifteenth century]

Although the Western historiography on prices and wages started in the nineteenth century already and is literally massive, very little has been made in that respect what concerns medieval Livonia. At the same time, the archive resources of Tallinn are rich and of great importance. The present paper is based mainly on the account book of Tallinn Black Heads preserved in State Archives of Hamburg which contains entries from 1418 to 1517. Various expenses for serving altars in St Catharine church which belonged to the confraternity of the Dominicans are listed annually. That gives us an opportunity to study the price dynamics for meat, fish, green peas and wax during almost the whole century. For a shorter period, the prices for beer and some other commodities also occur in the account book. Thus, what we have here is an daily menu of monks except bread. In order to complement the data additional prices for beer and rye from other sources are included. Speaking about prices the nominal and real ones have to be distinguished. Nominal prices are expressed in local currency – Riga schillings or marks whereas real prices have been reckoned in dividing the nominal prices to that of silver at the given year. It reveals that all the nominal prices rose very rapidly in the beginning of the fifteenth century. It can partly be explained by the quick debasement of the Riga mark in the late fourteenth – early fifteenth century as well as by the unsuccessful monetary reform of 1420s. In following years, the prices stabilized or were increasing only moderately, although the debasement continued. Real prices behaved a little bit differently. They rose remarkably in the 1420–40s, fell again and then, during the last decades of the fifteenth century, stabilized on the relatively low level of the early fifteenth century. The described dynamics seems to indicate certain demographic and monetary processes in Livonia. Presumably, it was the depopulation of peasants that initially brought along the decrease of the production in countryside and the corresponding increase of prices in towns. Subsequently, due to the pan-European silver famine in the mid-fifteenth century the real prices turned downwards. Livonia left the silver crises behind in 1480s, i.e. more or less simultaneously with the other Western countries. However, some economic inertia seems to have kept the prices relatively low also for some time hereafter. It means that the cost of living in Livonia which was tempestuously increasing during the initial decades of the fifteenth century decreased in the second half of the century at the same rate at least. Whether and to what extent it reflected the real living standard of the people is hard to say at the moment since there is too limited data about the wages in our disposal yet. Keywords: Middle Ages, Livonia, prices, wages, monetary history. Ivar Leimus (b. 1953) is a Senior Researcher in Estonian History Museum. Correspondence: Estonian History Museum, Pirita tee 56, 10127 Tallinn, Estonia. Email: [email protected]

Reckoning counters found in a 15th-century landfill of the Kalamaja suburb of Tallinn

In 2018â2019, at least 35 000 finds were gathered from the plot at Jahu 6 in the medieval and early modern suburb of Kalamaja in Tallinn, which had been transported to the disposal site together with waste and garbage from the walled town. The 249 coins that were unearthed suggest that most of the garbage was disposed of in the 1470s and 1480s. It seems that waste disposal may have ceased sometime before 1490. Late medieval and early modern reckoning counters, which were produced at first mainly in France and then in Nuremberg, and were meant for calculating on lines, are common finds in Estonia. They have been discovered both as stray finds in fields and during archaeological excavations in village cemeteries and towns. The majority of such counters date back to the 16thâ17th centuries, while earlier finds are rather rare. The garbage layer of the plot at Jahu 6 has yielded at least 61 jetons, of which only four date from the 17thâ18th centuries. All the other tokens came from the layers dating back to the end of the 1480s at the latest. Thus, the assemblage of the counters from the plot at Jahu 6 is unique and enables us to specify the dating of several counters previously described in the literature. Forty-eight of the medieval counters are likely to have been produced in Nuremberg and 12 in France, but it was impossible to determine the origin of one coin. In addition, there are only four perforated reckoning counters from the Middle Ages, one of which is supplied with a bronze suspension loop. It suggests that in towns, counters were used for their intended purpose, i.e. for calculation and not for decoration

Znaleziska monet kufickich z Estonii. Wstępne obserwacje

Do dzisiaj zarejestrowano w Estonii 35 skarbów zawierające wyłącznie dirhemy. Ponadto z samego końca X w. pochodzi kilka dalszych depozytów, składających się w przeważającej części z monet orientalnych, jednak już z niewielką domieszką monet europejskich. Tylko kilka skarbów można datować na IX w. Dominują w nich monety dynastii Abbasydów z lat 160. (776-786 A.D.), a przede wszystkim 180. i 190. Hidżry (796-815 A.D.). Skład taki jest typowy dla zespołów z IX w. znajdowanych zarówno w Europie Wschodniej jak i na Wschodzie i tłumaczony jest dużą aktywnością menniczą Kalifatu w tych dziesięcioleciach. Zdecydowana większość depozytów z monetą arabską z Estonii pochodzi z X w. Zawierają one głównie monety dynastii Samanidów, wybite w latach 280-330 H. (890-940 A.D.). Zasadniczo liczba monet rozkłada się równo na poszczególne dziesięciolecia, z niewielką tendencją spadkową. Po tym okresie liczba znalezisk monet arabskich w Estonii gwałtownie spada. Drugi okres wzmożonego ukrywania skarbów z dirhemami przypada na lata 380-400 H. (990-1010 A.D.), choć ich liczba jest zdecydowanie mniejsza niż w pierwszej fazie. Najmłodszy dirhem znaleziony w Estonii pochodzi z 404 r. H (1013/4). Skarby z tej młodszej fazy składają się głównie z monet dynastii Uqajlidów, Marwanidów oraz Oarachanidów oraz niewielkiej ilości starszych monet samanidzkich z lat 330-370 H. (940-980). Skład X-wiecznych skarbów dirhemów z Estonii zbliżony jest częściowo do składu skarbów gotlandzkich, po części do składu depozytów z Rusi. Najprawdopodobniej monety orientalne dostały się do Estonii poprzez Ruś, ale za pośrednictwem kupców szwedzkich. Porównując chronologię skarbów oraz zawartych w nich monet, można zauważyć, że w dekadach, kiedy ukryto dużo depozytów, zawierały one stosunkowo mało monet i na odwrót. Powody, jakie skłaniały ówczesnych ludzi do zbierania kruszcu i do jego chowania były zróżnicowane. Pierwsze były zależne od wielu czynników, między innymi aktywności mennic Kalifatu czy intensywności kontaktów między Wschodem a Zachodem. Przyczyny powodujące ukrywanie srebra były zupełnie innej natury. Chodzi przede wszystkim o takie, które powodują zmiany w sytuacji demograficznej, to znaczy wojny, plagi, głód oraz inne. Ich wynikiem mogło być ukrycie dużej liczby skarbów. W Europie nadbałtyckiej, szczególnie w Szwecji i na Rusi, można zauważyć niezwykle intensywne nagromadzenie srebra ukrytego w latach 860. Drugi moment tak licznego ukrywania kruszcu miał miejsce około polowy X w. Ten drugi okres wzmożonego deponowania próbowano tłumaczyć zazwyczaj jako efekt wezwania Waregów na Ruś w latach 859-862 lub kryzysem srebrnym na Wschodzie. Ale w grę mogły wchodzić jeszcze inne przyczyny, mające szeroki zasięg terytorialny. Chodzi tu zwłaszcza o klimat, który miał i ciągle ma istotny wpływ na warunki życia ludzi. Badania glacjologów nad pokładami lodu na Grenlandii ujawniły, że największe zakwaszenie pokrywy lodowej w ciągu ostatnich 1500 lat miało miejsce tuż przed polową X w. Zakwaszenie takie mogło powstać w wyniku silnych erupcji wulkanicznych, które z kolei mogły spowodować chwilowe (kilkuletnie) obniżenie temperatury o kilka stopni. Oziębienie niewątpliwie stało się przyczyną zaburzeń wegetacji roślin i w efekcie głodu i zmniejszenia się populacji ludzkiej

Mark, leisikas ja laevanael: keskaegse Liivimaa kaaluühikutest [Abstract: The pound, the lispound and the shippound: on weight units in medieval Livonia]

This article deals with the problem of weight units in medieval Livonia. The local weight system was based on the Riga silver mark of around 208 g and consisted of the pound (= 2 silver marks), the lispound, that is, the Livonian pound (= 20 mark pounds) and the shippound (=20 lispounds). In the early fifteenth century, a shippound weighed about 159 kg in Riga and 159.5 kg in Tartu. Significant changes took place during the fifteenth century and since 1460 at the latest (in Narva since 1470), a shippound varied from about 163 kg (in Tallinn) to about 173 kg (in Pärnu). It is probable that no more fluctuations in its weight took place and the system was maintained until the end of the medieval period in Livonia (app. 1560). KEYWORDS: Middle Ages, Livonia, weight system

From Ore to Money, Mining Trading, Minting, Proceedings of the Tallinn (2018) conference

International audienceThis volume is the proceeding of a workshop held in cooperation with the Estonian History Museum and the Institute of History, Archaeology and Art History of Tallinn University, 5-7 September 2018 in Tallinn, Estonia.In order to make coins, metal was first needed. Besides gold and silver, copper has also been significantly used as coinage metal of lesser value. Many countries did not have their own metal resources for a long time and were completely dependent on exports. Thus, all coinage metals had to be transported from producers to end users. At this point, merchants took over.The bigger the economy, the bigger its need for money. The attitudes of nations towards their monetary policy have been extremely diverse. Whereas England tried to sustain silver coinage, Sweden and Spain minted mainly pure copper in the 17th century. The heavy, inconvenient coins and increasing expenditures caused the introduction of paper money in Europe. The 18th–19th century saw the triumph of copper coinage and paper money almost everywhere. On the other hand, monetary systems were based on gold and silver standards. Problems concerning bimetallism and the changing values of its components occurred.The aim of the conference was to trace the path of the minting of coins from mining to the issuance of fresh coins from mints. There are, indeed, estimations about the scope of mining, trading and minting, as well as a general understanding about the processes that took place. However, many details remain unclear and require a closer consideration

From Ore to Money, Mining Trading, Minting, Proceedings of the Tallinn (2018) conference

International audienceThis volume is the proceeding of a workshop held in cooperation with the Estonian History Museum and the Institute of History, Archaeology and Art History of Tallinn University, 5-7 September 2018 in Tallinn, Estonia.In order to make coins, metal was first needed. Besides gold and silver, copper has also been significantly used as coinage metal of lesser value. Many countries did not have their own metal resources for a long time and were completely dependent on exports. Thus, all coinage metals had to be transported from producers to end users. At this point, merchants took over.The bigger the economy, the bigger its need for money. The attitudes of nations towards their monetary policy have been extremely diverse. Whereas England tried to sustain silver coinage, Sweden and Spain minted mainly pure copper in the 17th century. The heavy, inconvenient coins and increasing expenditures caused the introduction of paper money in Europe. The 18th–19th century saw the triumph of copper coinage and paper money almost everywhere. On the other hand, monetary systems were based on gold and silver standards. Problems concerning bimetallism and the changing values of its components occurred.The aim of the conference was to trace the path of the minting of coins from mining to the issuance of fresh coins from mints. There are, indeed, estimations about the scope of mining, trading and minting, as well as a general understanding about the processes that took place. However, many details remain unclear and require a closer consideration