http://makingrenmanuscripts.exhibits.library.upenn.edu/files/original/ef0f543c1744443d97ae13f8b75c5644.png e9f3f3ff0f2aee16b770ce6863788312 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 12. Transmitting Knowledge; Politics, Economics, and the Merchant Class Subject The topic of the resource Politics, Economics, and the Merchant Class Description An account of the resource Beginning in the fourteenth century, increasingly complex systems of international and interregional commerce led to new challenges for merchants and monarchs alike. In response, innovative document types were created. In order to thrive, aspiring traders needed to master not only the basic skills of arithmetic and geometry, but also the application of such concepts to everyday situations. Basic arithmetic operations, especially those involving fractions, are couched in everyday challenges: how to gauge the contents of a barrel, measure the height of a tower, or determine inheritance sums. For more established merchants whose work took them across the Mediterranean basin, comprehensive guides to the goods available in each major city, paired with the relevant measurements and currency denominations, were essential. Alongside the far-flung banking and trade networks epitomized by the Peruzzi, Acciaiuoli, and Medici dynasties, the concurrent centralization of administrative power in expanding nation-states necessitated the establishment of a true fiscal policy. Fragmented systems of taxation, inherited from feudal days, needed to be reformed in the monarchies of England and France in order to pay for costly wars. The administration of state affairs became especially complex in the 1520s for the French king Francis I (1494–1547), so much so that a well-meaning official produced a set of actionable recommendations for reform. By adopting these, the king could limit his reliance on wealthy lords and merchants. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dr. Nicholas Herman Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Making the Renaissance Manuscript; Discoveries From Philadelphia Libraries Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Exhibition Catalogue Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Tracta di mercantie et usanze di paesi</em> (Book of Trade and Customs of Countries) Description An account of the resource Those who traded in the interconnected Mediterranean world of the fifteenth century needed to be well informed about the types of goods available in a large number of cities, the units of measure and coinage used, their denominations, and their exchange rates with principal domestic currencies. This commercial manual in Italian responded perfectly to the needs of the Renaissance merchant, containing information for converting weights, measures, and money across Western Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, with major sections devoted to the trading capitals of Florence, Venice, and Genoa. The text is attributed to the Florentine merchant Giorgio di Lorenzo Chiarini and called the <em>Libro di mercantieet usanze de’ paesi</em>, or Book of Trade and Customs of Countries. A coat of arms of the Bertini family is present on a terracotta monument by the della Robbia workshop in the church of San Jacopo in Gallicano, north of Lucca Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Author: Giorgio di Lorenzo Chiarini; Scribe: Ludovico Bertini Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1481 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Manuscript on parchment, 100 fols. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center (SPC) MSS BH 007 COCH Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florence, Italy