The Cantelowe Accounts: Multilingual merchant records from Tuscany, 1450-1451 [Hardcover]

The Cantelowe Accountsrecord a large sale of English wool in Pisa and Florence in 1450-51 and offer the earliest evidence of an English merchant using Italian as a second language. The text features a unique mixed-language code (combining Middle English, Latin, Anglo-French and Tuscan) and an unprecedented near total use of Arabic numerals.
The Cantelowe Accounts appear to offer the earliest evidence of an English merchant using Italian as a second language. They were written by John Balmayn, an unknown Londoner, who travelled to Tuscany to oversee the sale of a valuable wool shipment in 1450-51 on behalf of his master - the Mercer, Sir William Cantelowe. The author uses an intriguing mix of four languages, combining Middle English, Latin and Anglo-French with the administrative Tuscan that he has learnt working alongside Florentine partners, such as the Salviati company. Two other striking features of the text are the extensive use of Arabic numerals, unparalleled in fifteenth-century English accounting, and the unusually detailed descriptions of merchant marks that were used to identify the woolsacks. Overall, the accounts are unique amongst multilingual medieval sources and will interest economic historians and historical linguists alike.
The history and economics informed outlook of her analysis gives a broader interest to the book, making it an essential contribution to the study of the transmission of technical knowledge and its language in medieval Europe. By incorporating multiple level of analysis, the book serves a broad community of scholars, including linguists, historians of medieval commerce, and specialists of the English and Italian wool trade. -- Alice Martignoni,Annali d'italianistica

The Cantelowe Accountsstand as the earliestevidence of such language use, bridging the gap between London and Tuscany. Beyondlinguistics, these accounts yield econo -- Jos? Miguel Alcolado Carnicero,Speculum: A Journal oflóE