The “Golden City” under Embargo: Prague's International Trade during the Hussite Wars, 1420–1436

After the outbreak of the First Hussite Wars (spring 1420), the Hussite capital Prague faced—at least in theory—a total embargo on all trade and commerce. However, trade evidently continued in spite of this embargo. The present article systematically assesses our knowledge on this trade and highlights articles, geographical structures and agents of long-distance trade to and from the Czech metropolis during the war, thus furthering our knowledge about the economic history of early fifteenth-century Central Europe in general. Furthermore, the author uses the example of the anti-Hussite embargo to address important and hitherto largely-neglected methodological questions concerning the analysis of medieval trade prohibitions in general.

Spice trade in the dark ages of Europe.

This chapter narrates the state of world trade during the fall of the Western Roman Empire under waves of Germanic tribe movements during the 'Völkerwanderung' or Migration Period. It contains nine subchapters that are about the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, spice use in Europe during the dark ages, the level of western trade in the early medieval age, Mediterranean trade in the early medieval period, early medieval trade in Europe, the Radhanites: medieval tycoons, the rise of the Gotlanders, Rus' trade with the Muslims and Byzantines through Khazaria, and lastly, Rus' attacks on the Islamic and Byzantine Worlds.

”Jeg er købmand og ikke filosof”: Sex, handel og venskab mellem kristne og muslimer i Boccaccios Decameron

This article investigates the function of trade in the representation of Muslims and Islamic culture in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (1348-52). It is argued that trade establishes friendly contacts across religious and cultural differences, that the image of Muslims is less condemning than is case of Boccaccio’s contemporaries Dante and Petrarch, and that the Oriental world is represented as a place in which the Christians become rich and successful. Sometimes the Muslim world is indirectly represented as a place from which a critical view of Europe can be thrown. The article analyses two stories in particular: the second day’s seventh story about Saracen princess Alatiel who, despite having had sex ten thousand times with eight lovers, successfully presents herself to the King of the Algarve as his virgin bride, and the seventh day’s ninth story about Zinevra who escapes from her revengeful husband and travels to Aleksandria disguised as a male merchant. In different ways the stories merge sexual and trade logic. Boccaccio’s stories are not considered as realistic sources to get knowledge about the medieval world, but the article argues that geographical references to medieval trade centres and routes show that the stories are influenced by the merchant culture thematically and structurally.

Between Theory(-ies) and Practice(-s): Legal Devices (Ḥiyal) in Classical Islamic Law

By assuming a disconnection between jurists’ doctrines and the reality of social life, Joseph Schacht interpreted ḥiyal (legal devices) in classical Islamic law as ‘the maximum that custom could concede, and the minimum (that is to say, formal acknowledgment) that the theory had to demand’. Challenging this interpretation, this article argues that ḥiyal were not exclusively the product of commercial customs that were unrelated to the jurists’ ideal law. In actual fact, the diverging contractual theories of the Sunni maḏāhib contributed to the development of diverse ḥiyal practices, whose social acceptance in medieval trade was correspondingly fostered (or rejected) by underlying fiqh doctrines.