The Merchant’s Education during the Late
Middle Ages
and the Early Modern History
Introduction
The
Commerce during the latest years of the Middle Ages suffered numerous changes,
changes that can be understood as great advances, as well as improvements that became
more obvious during the Modern Time. These circumstances made, in some way,
that the commerce became harder, and that meant that the merchants needed an
important education, an education that had to be intrinsic related with these
new improvements. As we’ll see, this education became very important in order
to create both a “perfect merchant” and a new social class that had its own
social values.
The
Education of the merchants
The
Medieval European commercial network had a great expansion during its last
century. This enormous grew meant that the Europeans had to expand their
knowledge in order to be able to maintain these networks, as well as create new
companies and finances that could fit in these new circumstances. This is why
they used the so called reference manuals, which were used to teach the
merchants the difficulties of the commerce, as well as the techniques that
permitted them progress in the modern times trade.
But
these manuals weren’t enough: they needed a new educational institution,
because the medieval ones didn’t fit with the new demands. This is why the botteghe[1]
was created as a school (it could be both private and public) that would teach
what the merchants required. It is interesting that it was the own merchants
who created this new education, an education that combined both the theory
(with the already mentioned manuals) and the practices in the factories were
they would work on. The main objective of the schools was, obviously, the guarantee
of the success in the business. The importance of these schools may be
questioned (specially the weight of the theory and the manuals), but the
sources tell us that the merchants thought that they needed three things in
order to success: money, accounting knowledge and commercial reckoning. As we
can see, two of these aspects (the reckoning and the accounting) are intrinsic
related with the theory.[2]
The
creation of a new social class
Another
important fact that the merchants learned from the manuals and the education
they got from the schools was some rules in order to behave, as well as the use
of several values and virtues that they were obliged to use while they were
working. This is one of the facts that permitted the creation of a new and totally
different social class, so, every member of every
merchant group had to accept numerous ethical values that guaranteed the social
acceptation of the group. Those values were different from every group, but it
is interesting to see that they coincided in some countries, and that those
rules were just created for the
group, not for the rest of the society. The main objective was, once again, the
success of every member, creating a huge difference with the rest of the
merchants.
Although the differences that I mentioned
between every merchant group, many of them coincide in some of the values they
wanted to “create”. Some of the manuals wanted even more, and they even
presented as manuals of social morality, for example Benedetto Cotrugli’s, who
wanted to create the “perfect merchants”[3],
as he called them. In his manual, Cotrugli recommends how the merchants should
behave, how they should walk and stand, and, even more important, how they
should talk to other people in order to be pleasant. Of course, Cotrugli
explains which the most successful initiatives are, and how the merchant should
act in order to make the most of it.
If
we analyze the values that are presented in almost every manual, those are-
dedication and effort while working; honesty in their business; honesty in the
social relationships; and, finally, responsibility in every action.[4] As
we can see, the importance of the working is quite remarkable- with endure, the
merchant would be able to success, and, then, be able to acquire the so much
desired wealth. In other manuals, there are other possibilities that are
remarked in order to success, as the capacity of initiative, the saving of the
money, the reckoning and the prudency in finances[5].
Conclusion
As
we´ve seen, the new world that came with the Modern Time had many complications
that had to be overcome with some adaptations, adaptations that the merchants
were able to make. These improvements were, as we´ve seen, the creation of the
schools and its manuals that were capable to create not just a “perfect
merchant”, but a totally new social class that created its own rules and
values, and then a huge difference from the rest of the society.
Bibliography
-
CAUNEDO DEL POTRO,
B.; “Algunos aspectos de los Manuales de mercaduría. El valor del aprendizaje”,
de Anuario de Estudios medievales,
2011, pp. 803-817.
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