#15thcentury

Georges Chastellain L’oultré d’amour pour amour morte (The One Overcome by Love who Died for Love) Angers (?), ca. 1470 The Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 443/21 The Burgundian chronicler and poet Georges Chastellain (ca. 1402/1415–75) was a prominent figure at the Burgundian court, serving dukes Phillip the Good and Charles the Bold with distinction. L’oultré d’amour, written in 214 octosyllabic octets, is an example of what was later called a roman à clef, a narrative describing actual events presented as a fictional account using altered names.

Giorgio di Lorenzo Chiarini Tracta di mercantie et usanze di paesi (Book of Trade and Customs of Countries) Florence, 1481; scribe: Ludovico Bertini Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center (SPC) MSS BH 007 COCH This commercial manual in Italian responded perfectly to the needs of the Renaissance merchant: within its covers is well- organized information for converting weights, measures, and money across Western Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, with major sections devoted to the trading capitals of Florence, Venice, and Genoa.