PWKM – Prosopography of the Viennese merchant class 1725–1758

The project „Prosopographie der Wiener Kaufmannschaft 1725–1758“, led by Peter Rauscher is a cooperation project with the the Institute of Austrian Historical Research at the University of Vienna. The ACDH-CH is the national research partner responsible for the technical implementation.

In the first half of the 18th century, Vienna was the largest city in Central Europe and the seat of the imperial court. The supply of long-distance goods to this metropolis was organized by the Viennese merchants. Apart from trading in goods, the merchants also served as lenders to the emperor. In contrast to their economic importance in the transportation of goods and in financial services, little is known about this group of merchants. This gap in research has led to gross misinterpretations, such as the assumption that there was no significant merchant class in Baroque Vienna. In contrast to earlier research on Viennese trade and its supporters, which focused primarily on individual ethnic or religious groups, this is the first time that the entire Viennese merchant community has been examined. 

The main source is the first Vienna mercantile record, the predecessor of the commercial register, which provides a complete list of merchants and their trading companies based in Vienna for the period from 1725 to 1758 and is preserved in the Vienna City and Provincial Archives. In the course of the project, a database is to be set up containing all the Viennese merchants listed in the mercantile record, their co-partners and executives. This database provides the basis for a group biography of the Viennese merchants, including their family and business relationships.  

The ACDH-CH is responsible for the human- and machine-readable preparation of the data collected in the project and for its long-term archiving. In addition, the mercantile record will be published as a digital edition.