Benedetto Cotrugli ( hr, Benedikt "Beno" Kotruljević; 1416–1469) was a

Ragusan Ragusan may refer to: * citizen of the Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

, economist, scientist,

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and humanist.

Life

Cotrugli was born in the city of Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik), part of the Republic of Ragusa. As a diplomat of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

, he spent some 15 years in the Court of Naples where he led many discussions and polished his thoughts on humanist subjects. From 1451 until 1469 he lived in Naples. He died in

Aquila Aquila may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Aquila'', a series of books by S.P. Somtow * ''Aquila'', a 1997 book by Andrew Norriss * ''Aquila'' (children's magazine), a UK-based children's magazine * ''Aquila'' (journal), an or ...

Surviving manuscripts

The earliest extant copy of Cotrugli's manuscript ''Libro de l'Arte de la Mercatura'' (''Book on the Art of Trade'') is kept in the National Library of Malta and is dated 1475, although the original manuscript was dated 1458.Basil S. Yamey (1994). "Benedikt Kotruljević on bookkeeping (1458)". ''Accounting, Business & Financial History'' 4(1): 43-50. The text of his 1458 manuscript '' Della mercatura e del mercante perfetto'' is followed by an appendix containing an inventory and many journal entries. It contains an early description of the double-entry bookkeeping system, predating the description made by

Luca Pacioli Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes ''Paccioli'' or ''Paciolo''; 1447 – 19 June 1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as accounting ...

in his ''

Summa de arithmetica ' (''Summary of arithmetic, geometry, proportions and proportionality'') is a book on mathematics written by Luca Pacioli and first published in 1494. It contains a comprehensive summary of Renaissance mathematics, including practical arithmeti ...

'' of 1494.

Heritage

In 2007 the Croatian state devoted a silver 150 kuna commemorative coin to Cotrugli. Cotrugli is the patron of the Cotrugli business school, with branches in Zagreb, Belgrade and Ljubljana.

Notes

Bibliography

*B.Cotrugli, "Il libro dell'arte di mercatura", Guerini Next, september 2022 *B.Cotrugli, "Arricchirsi con onore", edited by Alessandro Wagner, introduction by Brunello Cucinelli, Rizzoli, May 2018 *B.Cotrugli, ''The Book of the Art of Trade'', edited by Carlo Carraro and Giovanni Favero, with Scholarly Essays from Niall Ferguson, Giovanni Favero, Mario Infelise, Tiziano Zanato and Vera Ribaudo, translated in English by John Francis Phillimore, Springer Nature, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 *B. Cotrugli, Libro de l'arte de la mercatura, critical edition of the original Italian manuscript, by Vera Ribaudo, Cà Foscari University Press, Venice, May 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotrugli, Benedetto 1416 births 1469 deaths People from the Republic of Ragusa Croatian Renaissance humanists 15th-century diplomats 15th-century merchants 15th-century businesspeople People from Dubrovnik Economy of Dubrovnik