Markets and Their Actors in the Late Middle Ages by Tanja Skambraks;Julia Bruch;Ulla Kypta;

Author:Tanja Skambraks;Julia Bruch;Ulla Kypta;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2020-11-23T10:15:37.450000+00:00

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Mining, markets, and the Kux system

The complex mineral physiography and geology of the Ore Mountains are key to understanding the Saxon mining economy and thus the workings of this complex market. The Ore Mountains are a low cross-border mountain range located between what was then the Electorate of Saxony and Bohemia. The region was, and still is, rich in various precious metals and minerals: ore veins include iron, copper, tin, bismuth, tungsten, cobalt, uranium, lithium, and above all silver.2 It is not surprising to see that the history of this environment has been deeply influenced by its economic development, especially that of silver mining. Evidence of mining can be traced back to the twelfth century (Hoffmann and Balášová 2014; Schwabenicky 1992, 2002, 2013; Schirmer 2001, 2013; Flemming and Schirmer 2009; Unger 1963). After a long prosperous period, ore mining largely came to a standstill in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (Schirmer 2001; Laube 1974, 12 – 20). This changed during the so-called zweites Berggeschrey (literally the “second mining clamour”, a kind of silver rush) at the end of the Middle Ages. After new high-potential deposits of precious metal had been discovered, miners from all over the Holy Roman Empire migrated to the Ore Mountains in the hope of fortune and prosperity (Laube 1974, chap. 1; Flemming and Schirmer 2009; Suhling 1996). The Berggeschrey generated a fundamental transformation of the region, where new and numerous colonies swiftly merged into towns and booming cities. These urban communities thrived, as mining cities attracted adventurers as well as entrepreneurs or humanist intellectuals like Georgius Agricola. A high level of urbanization shaped the region, with mining towns becoming not only the economic but also the administrative, intellectual, and cultural centres.3 In the middle of the sixteenth century, cities such as Freiberg, Annaberg, or Joachimsthal/Jáchymov were the biggest cities in Saxony and Bohemia (excluding Prague), with between six and twelve thousand inhabitants each.

After the miners had exhausted the deposits near the surface, mining quickly became incredibly cost-intensive. This development is connected to the complex geology of the region, particularly its two layers of mineral deposits. The first one, the surface deposits (or the “iron hat”; eiserner Hut), went down to a depth of fifty metres. In this area, silver ore was rich and easy to extract. But once the surface deposits had been exhausted, hence necessitating to go deeper into the bedrock of the reduction zone, water leakage was a serious problem. Solutions like delicate drainage systems required not only technical expertise but also a significant amount of capital (Wagenbreth and Wächtler 2015, 13; Schirmer 2013, 52; Czaya 1990, 20; Quellmalz 1990, 20). Yet there always remained an element of uncertainty: silver ore veins were present in varying sizes in the cracks and pores of the bedrock. No one could foresee where they might be found or estimate how large they might be once they had been found. Hence, there was a great interest in exploring as much as possible, and in going deeper and deeper into the mountain.

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