What question did this study set out to answer?

To analyze the commercial practices and bookkeeping methods evident in the ledger of Jachomo Badoer during the Byzantine period.

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March 18, 2026

The Ledger of Jachomo Badoer: Constantinople September 2, 1436 to February 26, 1440.

Key Points

To analyze the commercial practices and bookkeeping methods evident in the ledger of Jachomo Badoer during the Byzantine period.
Examination of the ledger as a primary historical document
Analysis of economic data including prices, wares, and currencies
Review of bookkeeping techniques evident in the ledger
Document provides unique insights into Byzantine commerce during the 15th century
Reveals fluctuating exchange rates and purchasing power of currencies
First recorded evidence of compound entry bookkeeping found in the ledger

Abstract

Abstract ABSTRACT: The ledger of Jachomo Badoer is the only commercial document written entirely in Constantinople that has survived, in its entirety, the Turkish conquest of that city. It is a precious source of data relevant to the intense economic activities and Byzantine commerce of that era. It furnishes us with varied information on wares exchanged, their prices and marketing practices, the monetary currencies circulating in the Levant, their purchasing power and the rates of exchange, which were continuously fluctuating. It also vividly portrays the stage of development of the art of bookkeeping, which was in a fluid state. Badoer, himself, was an experimenter and innovator of new ideas in bookkeeping. The first evidence of a compound entry that has so far surfaced is found in his ledger.

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