EXPORTING OF COPPER FROM EASTERN SLOVAKIA TO WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 14 TH CENTURY

Exporting of copper from eastern Slovakia through Poland and the Hanseatic ports on the Baltic coast to Flanders is documented from the 1320s and 1330s at a time when convoys of galleys operated between Venice and Flanders. As a result of its transit through Poland, it was called “Polish copper” (Rame de Pollana). It represented one of the important types of copper on the market at Bruges, from where it was transported in the form of rectangular plates to Venice. According to documents preserved in Venice from the papers of the copper merchant N. Paolini, he sold 108 hundredweight (centnars) (= c. 5.15 tonnes) of Rame de Pollana in 1324. In the Venetian foundries, it is mentioned in 1334 as one of the five basic types imported to the city. These records show that this trade was profitable in spite of the long voyage around Europe.