XXX Международный конгресс ИИСАА. 19–21 июня 2019 г. Т. 1

Секция II 112 XXX Международный Конгресс по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки Michail Hradek (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany) Insights into the financial administration of a 14th century Jerusalem merchant The majority of Arabic documents found in the Ḥaram collection of the Islamic Museum in Jerusalem mainly focus on legal aspects regarding daily life of 14th century Jerusalem. A composition of financial administrative documents remained scarcely unnoticed. These documents have been accredited in former research (Little 1984, Müller 2013) to the 14th century Jerusalemmerchant Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Ḥamawī (d. 788/1386). To what extent do the documents provide an insight into al-Ḥamawī’s business transactions, lasting over a period of more than twenty years, should be discussed here. Basing on the analysis of their content and specific layout elements, it is the aim to “re-construct” the “merchant’s ledger” and to draw conclusions about contemporary archival practice(s), as well as designating the significance of these financial documents for the socio-economical history of 14th century Jerusalem. While comparing all documents, we face several difficulties. The documents can be classified as credit accounts, since all of them report that a sum of money or a commodity was being kept by the afterwards mentioned debtor. Alongside the credit notes there are several other entries, reporting the receipt of sums of money or commodities, the purchase of common goods, as well as notes concerning rents of houses or the revenues of shops. The repetition of persons (i. e. Mūsā the flour merchant) can be an indication for the existence of an informal business network, with whom al-Ḥamawī used to trade. More than half of daftar sheets indicate a date, when the entry was recorded. An indicator for the chronology of the documents is the usage of at least two different blessings as invocation, which seemed to be used at different times of record-keep- ing. The blessing as the first element of an entry or at the first page of the daftar sheet can be observed in the majority of the preserved daftar documents, but neither do they all include a precise date, nor does the position of the invocation offer a certain hierarchy to be maintained. Even though these documents were written by al-Ḥamawī himself, the change in his handwriting will be an important approach to further define the approximate date of recording of the undated documents. Further layout elements, as encircled and crossed out entries, do not necessarily suggest a completion of business transaction, either in successfully repaid sums of money or transferred commodities, because the earliest entries do not all have these particular layout elements. It can be assumed that these financial documents could not have been part of a clean copy of al-Ḥamawī’s accounts, because of the messy written entries and certain copyist remarks. This indicates a further usage by third parties, either by a copyist or by the appointed administrator of the estate, Muḥammad al-Aḏraʿī.