18. Chief accountant Matthäus Schwarz writes to Veit Hörl in Spain. Handwritten entry in the ‘common trade’ copy book (1524–34)

This double page is part of letter book no. 6, the oldest surviving copy book running from 1524 to 1534, and it displays the typical format of commercial letters. Books of this sort were used by merchants to register copies of the commercial correspondence that had been exchanged with customers and partners. The document also illustrates one of the functions of the chief accountant, i.e., to correspond and communicate with all the different agents in the extensive networks of Fugger factors, to send and receive information on all operations involved in the business, such as payment transactions, outstanding debts and their demand, and in general any other relevant facts and figures, with a view to their registration in the different account books.
On 1 July 1534, Matthäus Schwarz brings four cases to the attention of Veit Hörl, the company’s representative in Spain. Most of these cases had been running since 1530 and required clarification. The first one is about a transaction of the Fugger and Welser concerning the Cruzada trade, for which the postmaster Taxis in Italy (Venice, Bologna) has sent two shipments of letters. Afterwards Schwarz addresses a debt of Cristobal de Haro from Valladolid. De Haro had been paid 60 ducats via Rome in 1523 (!) and despite the reminders he wants to avoid the payment. So, Schwarz gives instructions to remind him. In the third case, Schwarz discusses a shipment of 54 small sachets of glaze from Spain to Antwerp (1532) and lists the price at which they were sold there. The revenues were to be credited to the legacy of a deceased Fugger servant, Lukas Temperani, for which Schwarz can find no entry. Schwarz closes this letter with a payment for Jörg Müller in Lyon, which is accounted via Spain, as well as another payment of 50 florins which got paid to the latter in Augsburg. Another letter was sent to Müller on this matter.

(Franz Karg)