Pegolotti Pratica Ricc.2441 specimen half page. Francesco Balducci Pegolotti (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1290 – 1347), also Francesco di Balduccio, was a Florentine merchant and politician.

Life

His father, Balduccio Pegolotti, represented Florence in commercial negotiations with

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

in 1311. His brother, Rinieri di Balduccio, was suspected of connivance in the disappearance of a gold shipment in 1332. Francesco Pegolotti himself was a businessman in the service of the Compagnia dei Bardi, and in this capacity he was at

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

from 1315 (or earlier) to 1317. He was a director of the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

office from 1317 to 1321, and is recorded (as Balduch) as having dealt directly with King

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...

. He was in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

from 1324 to 1327, and again in 1335. In 1324 at

Famagusta Famagusta, also known by several other names, is a city located on the eastern coast of Cyprus. It is located east of the capital, Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime ...

he negotiated a reduction of customs duties for the Compagnia dei Bardi and for those identified as Florentine merchants by the Bardi representative in the city. In 1335 he obtained from the

King of Armenia This is a list of the monarchs of Armenia, rulers of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Kingdom of Armenia (336 BC – AD 428), the medieval Bagratid Armenia, Kingdom of Armenia (884–1045), various lesser Armenian kingdoms (908–1170) ...

a grant of privileges for Florentine trade. In 1331 and again in 1342 he was involved in Florentine politics as a ''Gonfalionere di Compagnia''; in 1346 he held a higher position, ''Gonfalionere di Giustizia''. In 1347, when the Compagnia dei Bardi collapsed, Pegolotti was among those who dealt with the consequences of the bankruptcy.

Works

Between 1335 and 1343 he compiled the work for which he is famous, the ''Book of Descriptions of Countries and of Measures Employed in Business'' (), commonly known as the '' Practice of Commerce'' ('). Beginning with a

glossary A glossary (from , ''glossa''; language, speech, wording), also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of Term (language), terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Traditionally, a gloss ...

of Italian and foreign terms then in use in trade, the ''Practice'' next describes nearly all the major trading cities then known to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

merchants; the imports and exports of various regions; the business customs prevalent in each of those regions; and the comparative value of coinages, weights and measures. The most distant trade route described by Pegolotti is that from

Azov Azov (, ), previously known as Azak ( Turki/ Kypchak: ), is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. The population is History Early settlements in the vici ...

via

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

Khiva Khiva ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Xiva, Хива, ; other names) is a district-level city of approximately 93,000 people in Khorazm Region, Uzbekistan. According to archaeological data, the city was established around 2,500 years ago. In 1997, Khiva celebr ...

Otrar Otrar or Otyrar ( ; ), also called Farab, is a Central Asian ghost town that was a city located along the Silk Road in Kazakhstan. Otrar was an important town in the history of Central Asia, situated on the borders of settled and agricultural civ ...

and Kulja to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. He also details the route from Ayas on the

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

n coast of Turkey via

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

, Erzingan and

Erzerum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of ancient Theodosiopolis. T ...

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

in Persia.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pegolotti, Francesco Balducci Italian male writers Italian bankers Medieval economic history 14th-century deaths Year of birth unknown 13th-century Italian businesspeople 14th-century Italian businesspeople 14th-century Italian politicians