Jagellonian Ledgers as Sources for Watermark Research and Paper History Studies: The First Papermills of East-Central Europe

Krisztina Rábai

doi:10.31261/SPiP.2020.16.14

Published: 2020-12-16

Vol. 12 (2020)

Jagellonian Ledgers as Sources for Watermark Research and Paper History Studies: The First Papermills of East-Central Europe

Krisztina Rábai

Section: Artykuły

https://doi.org/10.31261/SPiP.2020.16.14

Abstract

This study is based on the analysis of the paper and the text of royal and princely accounts in which scribes registered the everyday incomes and expenditures of four Jagiellonian courts, located in different parts of East-Central Europe around the turn of the 15th and 16th-century. The period covers the establishment and the very first years of paper mills in Silesia and the Polish Kingdom. Regarding the lack of archival sources preserving the foundation and running of these mills, the cradles of paper-making in East-Central Europe, one should use many different and quite laconic written sources to shed light upon these revolutionary years. Although accounts could preserve mentions of purchasing, trading and using paper, in most cases the textual information is not adequate to reconstruct a detailed and clear image of paper producing; researchers should examine the medium of writing - the paper - itself. Instead of the investigation of single sheets, folded papers, small notebooks and bound books such as accounts proved to be more useful. One can compare the sheets of the volumes and find those traces which lead to the paper mills, the places of their origin. Through the detailed examination of one especially complex and interesting ledger from the courts of Prince Sigismund, the author attempts to demonstrate the opportunities lay in watermark studies. Furthermore, the article purposes to reflect on the huge hiatus clearly perceptible on the field of watermark research and paper history in East-Central Europe and the necessity of developing a database of watermarks reflecting on the history of paper-making in this region.

Keywords:

watermark analysis , first papermills in East-Central Europe , paper trade , Jagiellonian dynasty , royal accounts

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Rábai, K. (2020). Jagellonian Ledgers as Sources for Watermark Research and Paper History Studies: The First Papermills of East-Central Europe. Średniowiecze Polskie I Powszechne, 12, 324–340. https://doi.org/10.31261/SPiP.2020.16.14

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Vol. 12 (2020)
Published: 2020-12-21

ISSN: 2080-492X

eISSN: 2353-9720

Publisher

Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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