Reti mercantili a servizio della migrazione del primo Rinascimento. Insediamento dei sudditi della corona ungherese nella Firenze del Quattrocento

Author(s)
Katalin Prajda
Abstract

In the Fifteenth Century, Hungarians constituted one of the few foreign groups in the city of Florence. In spite of their restricted number and the seemingly insignificant role played in local economy, their case may shed light on various patterns, especially on the importance of merchant networks as pull factors in longdistance migration. The term ungarus appearing in Italian sources shall be best thought of as a collective category for describing subjects of the Hungarian crown, regardless of their ethnic background. Some documents refer also to their town of origins, most commonly Buda and Zagreb. From this point of view, it is not surprising that there are Hungarians, at least appearing as such in Florentine sources, who lived for extended period of time in the Kingdom of Hungary, but were probably born and raised in Florence. Besides commerce, typical among these HungarianFlorentines, the most common occupational categories of those Hungarians who settled in Florence were connected to military activity (soldiers of various ranks and sorts), to livestock (horse dealer, workers in leather) and to making clothing (tailors). Furthermore, we find also servants among them who were employed mainly by longdistance trade merchants with a business profile in Hungary. The article draws a comparison between the Hungarian migration to Florence and to Rome and based on the reading of the earliest city censuses of Florence, as of 1427, 1433, 1446, 1458, as well as on notarial protocols housed mainly in the National Archives of Florence and Rome.

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
Harvard University
Pages
55-64
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.832.c13880
Publication date
2022
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
601012 Medieval history
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/reti-mercantili-a-servizio-della-migrazione-del-primo-rinascimento-insediamento-dei-sudditi-della-corona-ungherese-nella-firenze-del-quattrocento(e865b3f2-b91a-41b1-a4ee-e9b389ed563d).html