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Medieval Sourcebook:
An Order to Purchase, 1235


Apparently it was to the advantage of French merchants traveling to Sicily, Spain, and North Africa, to convert their money into bisants. William de Caussac was commissioned as an agent for his father and for Bernard de Manduel.

In the name of the Lord. In the year of the Incarnation 1235, on the thirty-first of July. Be it known to all that I, Peter de Caussac, confess and solemnly acknowledge to you, Bernard de Manduel, that I have had and received from you seventy-one pounds and ten solidi in royal crowns which are invested in four hundred and forty bisants of good old milreis, of correct weight, free from custom duties and from all shipping dues, and which William de Caussac, my son, carries from you as an order, with my authority, wish, and command, on a journey to Sicily, in the ship "Saint Nicholas," and thence wherever God wills, for the purpose of doing trade in Tangier or in Spain, just as is contained in a certain public record drawn up by the hand of Januarius, notary public of Marseilles. And those ten pounds which my son William carries for you by order on the same ship, which are invested in sixty bisants of good old milreis, of correct weight and similarly free from taxes, just as is contained in a certain public record drawn up by the hand of Hugh of St. Michael, notary public, thus making a total of eighty-one pounds and ten solidi, I confess and acknowledge I have had and received from you. I renounce in full knowledge all claim to money not mentioned nor lent to me, and I consider myself a debtor to you and I promise you, the said Bernard, that at no time will I go against this acknowledgment, renouncing all law by which I might go against the said things. This was done in the house of Peter of Sallono in which Januarius the notary lives. Witnesses, etc.


Source:

From: L. Blancard, ed., Documents Inédits sur le Commerce de Marseille au Moyen Age, (Paris: Barlatier-Feissat, Pere et fils, 1884), Vol. I, p. 101, reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), pp. 106-107.

Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg.


This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.

Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use.

© Paul Halsall, September 1998
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