Benedetto Cotrugli

Kotruljević Monument in Zagreb.

Sailing manual, 1464.

First edition by Della Mercatura 1573.

Memorial plaque on the house where he was born in Dubrovnik

Benedetto Cotrugli, RAUGEO ' (lat. Benedictus de Cotrullis , kroat. Benedict Kotruljević ) (* 1416 in Ragusa / Dubrovnik ; † 1469 in L'Aquila ) was from Dubrovnik originating in Naples active trader in the Renaissance period.

Life

Cotrugli came from Ragusa , Croatia , and therefore added “Raugeo” to the name. He was the son of Giacomo Cotrugli and Nicoletta Illich. Both his father and grandfather Michele were traders. The grandfather had at the end of the 14th century a. a. leased the salt pans in Apulia and the mint of Naples.

From 1451 the trader lived in Naples , where he also wrote his four-volume work “Della Mercatura et del Mercante perfetto” , which is known as the forerunner of general trade theory. It was not printed in Venice until 1573 .

On the last page is noted: Finisce l'opera de mercatura, dettata per M. Benedetto di Cotrugli a Francesco de Steffani Deo gracias . (The work on the merchant's art is finished, to Francesco de Steffani dictated by M. Benedetto Cotrugli, thank God).

The four-volume work contains 50 chapters. The first book deals with the origin of the trade , the personality of the merchant as well as general issues , such as double-entry bookkeeping in Chapter 13 - which Luca Pacioli also deals with in his book “Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni e proportionalità” , which was printed in 1494 , even noted to pass on what is known.

In the second book, Cotrugli writes about Holy Mass , prayers , alms , what is permitted and what is not; the third book deals with the prudence of the businessman, discretion, courtesy, modesty, serenity, ....

The fourth book speaks of the domesticity of the merchant, his thrift, clothing and the upbringing of children.

Not to be underestimated, however, is Cotrugli's sailing manual for the Mediterranean, De navigatione liber, a manuscript from 1464, and thus the oldest known relevant work.

Honors

The Croatian state dedicated a silver 150 kuna commemorative coin to Cotrugli (as the alleged inventor of double entry bookkeeping) in 2007 . Benedetto Cotrugli is the namesake of the Cotrugli Business School with branches in Zagreb , Belgrade and Ljubljana .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kheil: Benedetto Cotrugli , p 18ff
2. ↑ Kheil: Benedetto Cotrugli , p. 3, literally: "These facts will have given rise to the erroneous assumption that some Pacioli cite not only as the first writer about double bookkeeping, but also as their inventor." And p. 4 , “It is also believed that the inventor of double-entry accounting was Angelo Senisio, a Benedictine monk from the monastery of Heil. Martino delle Scale in Palermo in 1348. "
3. ↑ Kheil, Benedetto Cotrugli , p 21
4. ↑ In fact, the earliest evidence dates back to the first half of the 14th century. See Geoffrey EM de Ste. Croix, Greek and Roman Accounting, in: AC Littleton / BS Yamey (eds.), Studies in the History of Accounting. Homewood 1956, pp. 61-66.
5. ↑ Official notification of the Croatian National Bank ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

literature

• Carl Peter Kheil: Benedetto Cotrugli Raugeo. A contribution to the history of bookkeeping , Vienna 1906 (English reprint: Bibliolife 2009, ISBN 978-1113249876 ) - PDF
• Benedetto Cotrugli: Il libro dell'arte di mercatura , a cura di Ugo Tucci , Arsenale, Venezia 1990
• Benedetto Cotrugli: De navigatione liber, 1464.

Web links

• Scientific research on the 8th World Congress of Accounting Historians in Madrid (July 2000 )
• Internet presentation of the Cotrugli Business School
• Benedetto Cotrugli: De navigatione liber (manuscript).