Poutníci a jejich peníze na cestě do Říma. Zamyšlení nad edicí Il Libro del pellegrino (Siena, 1382–1446)
Článekpeer-reviewedpublishedDatum publikování
2010
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Univerzita Pardubice
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The pilgrim book (Il Libro del pellegrino) of the hospital of Our Lady della Scala in
Siena from 1382–1446 represents an accurately guided document on monetary deposits in
one of the most important church institutions in Siena. A large-scale set of specie registered
in this book is an interesting witness to the movement of money in circulation in late medieval
Europe. Seven pilgrims from the lands of the Bohemian Crown are mentioned in the
entries from 1384–1433: two come from Bohemia, four from Moravia and one from Silesia.
Further two other pilgrims with an ambiguous geographic assignment seem to be considered.
The book, however, does not register all pilgrims who visited Siena on the way to
Rome. It mentions only those who deposited their cash in the hospital with the intention to
withdraw it on the way back.
The writer compares registered deposits with amounts intended for the pilgrimage to
Rome (4–5 pounds of Prague groschens in the lower middle class and 8–10 pounds in the
higher middle class) which have been entered into the memorable city book of Olomouc
dated back to 1430–1492. He distinguishes sums intended to the way back (1,5–8 pounds)
from petty cash (within the range of 4–35 Prague groschens) which could suffice for just
few days. At average speed of 40 km per day it is possible to suppose that the journey from
the Czech lands to Rome (about 1 300 km) could last about 37–38 days with 5–6 days of
rest. At average expense of 3 Prague groschens per day which roughly corresponds with the
most common summer daily wage of a journeyman, a pilgrim was able to manage for about
85 days with 4 pounds of Prague groschens, it was enough for a return journey and for
about ten days´ stay in Rome. If he took 5 pounds with him he could stay in Italy for one
month. A double amount of 8–10 pounds presumably served as a nest-egg for the case of
illness or of accident. In better case it could provide travel luxury.
Contrary of the testimonies it is not possible to judge from deposits of the social
status of their bearers. Money of pilgrims predominantly consisted of gold coins contained
in more than 70 % of all registered deposits. Larger amounts were mostly deposited by
those pilgrims who were coming from the far-away regions and by old priests who started
on a journey with all their belongings in conviction not to come back any more. That is
a case of Florian of Kočov, chaplain in Volyně (South Bohemia), who gave 20 florins into
custody of friars in Siena.
The entries in the pilgrim book of Siena document that Florentine florins, Venetian
ducats and Hungarian florins belonged to the most frequent gold specie in Italy that time,
Prague and Flemish groschens occurred most often among silver coins. From the given data
which mention a value of money very sporadically it is, however, not possible to make
even an approximate estimation of the sum total of money which flew into the hospital. We
can just suppose that the sum total of 2 500 florins which represent the value of all 328
deposits registered by 1410 did not get entire to the hospital treasury because many deposits
have been withdrawn in the meantime. Just a part of them remained after those pilgrims
who died in the hospital and whose deposits have never been withdrawn. Nevertheless, it
was still a relatively large amount which was continuously becoming a hospital ownership.
Rozsah stran
s. 191-206
ISSN
1802-2502
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Zdrojový dokument
Theatrum historiae. 6, 2010
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Klíčová slova
peníze, poutníci, církevní instituce, Řím