This book explores the mobility of merchants’ manuscripts—understood as written records in various forms—and their role in shaping and reflecting late medieval social structures. Focusing on merchants as key agents of manuscript circulation, it highlights their impact across fairs and markets in the Holy Roman Empire. Blending cultural and economic history, the chapters span fifteenth- and sixteenth-century case studies that challenge conventional periodization. Drawing on interdisciplinary methods, the book traces manuscripts from production to dissemination and the formation of reading communities. It argues that the history of the premodern economy is incomplete without accounting for the movement of manuscripts as material and social objects.

List of Illustrations

Preface

"Portable Manuscripts and Their Function in the Late Middle Ages – Introduction" by Julia Bruch, Katharina M. Hofer, Ulla Kypta, and Paul Schweitzer-Martin

Chapter 1. "Portable Merchants’ Books and Their Influence on Social and Economic Networks" by Julia Bruch

Chapter 2. "Instructing and Organizing Business with Portable Manuscripts" by Paul Schweitzer-Martin

Chapter 3. "Portability for Participation: Organizing the Interests of Merchants’ Towns at Hanse Diets" by Ulla Kypta

Conclusion. "Portable Manuscripts Creating Networks of Communication and Control" by Julia Bruch, Katharina M. Hofer, Ulla Kypta, and Paul Schweitzer-Martin