Un regno delle lettere. Carteggi mercantili tra Est e Ovest

This paper explores the fragmented vernacular correspondence of Italians residing in the territories of the Hungarian-Croatian crown. The study begins with a problematization of merchant correspondence during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, examined primarily from a historiographical perspective and, to a lesser extent, a linguistic one. The focus then shifts specifically to the fragmented letters of Italians based in Hungary, preserved across various Italian and Hungarian archives. This contextual framework introduces a microhistorical case study dedicated to the Florentine Mannini family, tracing their extensive commercial networks across England, France, the Patriarchate of Aquileia, Venice, and Hungary, with particular attention to their fragmented correspondence discovered in Transylvania. The analysis concludes with a summary overview and a comprehensive inventory of the family's nine surviving vernacular letters.