This study aims to investigate the economics of urban communities and the protection of these economics by the use of voluntary justification. The most important documents to make deals between partners more secure were diploma and the scribality provided by city councils. While documents were often destroyed after becoming useless (e.g. when the deals were fulfilled), city books were very well preserved. Cleared business dealings were simply crossed out, but remained legible for historians.
The aim of the project is to survey the recorded dealings in general and the strategies of protection in particular. Above all, any further mentioned protections strategies and the perceptions that business partners had of each other are of interest. Were there differences between different social groups in the hedging of their businesses?
To answer these questions, three different regions with a minimum of five cities each are to be examined. These cities were situated in Alsace, the Thuringian Basin and Lusatia. All cities have similarities and differences in their development and structure so that a comparison appears promising.

Stadtarchiv Kamenz, A.2.1 Stadtbücher 01, folio 28r.

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Project by Max Grund mgrund@roots.uni-kiel.de