ERC Advanced Grant

Agents of Logistics and Infrastructure in Eighteenth-Century Alpine Transit Traffic

APPROACH

ALPINNKONNECT proposes socio-material-natural interconnectedness as an innovative approach to study the agents of logistics and infrastructure on three major transalpine transit routes.

KEY QUESTIONS

How did goods cross the continent on Alpine routes?
How was the transit of goods maintained, facilitated or hindered?
How did the various actors, the built materiality and the natural environment interact?

AIM

The aim of ALPINNKONNECT is to show how very different actors, both cooperating and competing, were able to overcome all the challenges that arose along the chosen transalpine traffic routes as a stable backbone of European trade.

[social]

As multi-active entrepreneurs, innkeepers were central agents in the logistics and infrastructure of transalpine transit traffic. They were integrated into networks of extensive marriage and kinship relations, which formed an important basis of their business. Innkeepers were connected with other transport operators as well as with local cooperatives.

[material]

ALPINNKONNECT conceives of inns at transit routes as multipurpose hubs that were also connected to other buildings – such as stables, warehouses, customs stations – but also to animals and various transport vehicles and not least with roads, mule tracks, rivers and lakes.

[natural]

All those involved in transit traffic had to cope with difficult road conditions, changing seasons, extreme weather events in challenging alpine landscapes. Roads and paths, bridges, shelters and river courses had to be maintained and repaired to keep them trafficable.

The project uses exceptionally rich source material.

Photo of Court record of Klausen/Chiusa for the years 1708 to 1713, frontpage

Civil court records (Verfachbücher): Court record of Klausen/Chiusa for the years 1708 to 1713, frontpage

These volumes, organised according to court districts – as administrative units – in German-speaking Tyrol are preserved in enormous numbers and almost completely for the eighteenth century in the South Tyrolean Provincial Archives in Bolzano and in the Tyrolean Provincial Archives in Innsbruck.

(Südtiroler Landesarchiv Bozen, Verfachbuch Klausen 1708–1713)

Photo of Marriage contract of innkeepers, Klausen/Chiusa, 26 June 1797

Civil court records (Verfachbücher): Marriage contract of innkeepers, Klausen/Chiusa, 26 June 1797

The contents include all kinds of civil law documents, in particular contracts, wills, probate proceedings with inventories, promissory notes, receipts, powers of attorney, but also settlements of disputes.

(Südtiroler Landesarchiv Bozen, Verfachbuch Klausen 1794–1800, fol. 216–223)

Photo of Marriage contract of a Klausen/Chiusa innkeeper, dated 27 September 1797 in Toblach/Dobbiacco, where the bride came from.

Civil court records (Verfachbücher): Marriage contract of a Klausen/Chiusa innkeeper, dated 27 September 1797 in Toblach/Dobbiacco, where the bride came from.

(Südtiroler Landesarchiv Bozen, Verfachbuch Klausen 1794–1800, fol. 236 ½)

Business archives: Correspondence of the Salis-Massner freight forwarder company with Chiavenna

The Salis-Massner business archive in the Grisons State Archives in Chur provides a solid basis for research into the activities of the Massner freight forwarder company and on the organisation of the freight forwarder business, as does the Bavier family archive.

(Staatsarchiv Graubünden Chur, A Sp III/9a.4/16a, Salis-Massner Bank- u. Speditionshaus)

Photo of Confirmation of arrival of cargo in Milan and complaint about delay, 1741

Waybills, cover and business letters: Confirmation of arrival of cargo in Milan and complaint about delay, 1741

Letters relating to trade, freight forwarding and goods have been preserved in large quantities in the Grisons State Archives, the municipal archive of Ulm and the Museo della Via Spluga e della Val San Giacomo.

(Stadtarchiv Ulm, G 2, Massner)

Photo of Letter from a freight forwarder in Lindau to Massner in Chur regarding payment for a delivery of textiles, 1759

Waybills, cover and business letters: Letter from a freight forwarder in Lindau to Massner in Chur regarding payment for a delivery of textiles, 1759

They are a highly important basis for the project as they provide information about the merchants and the merchandise shipped by freight forwarder companies along the Splügen route.

(Stadtarchiv Ulm, G 2, Massner)

Administrative records: Archive collection on roads and streets in Tyrol

These records are preserved in the Tyrolean Provincial Archives Innsbruck, supplemented by district office records in the State Archives Bolzano and Trento, as well as corresponding series in the Vienna Court Chamber Archives for the Tyrolean routes, and in the State Archives of the Grisons, Lucerne and Uri in Altdorf and in the Municipal Archive of Chur. These series are arranged according to subject groups and are very well indexed through repertories, so that specific material can be collected.

(Tiroler Landesarchiv Innsbruck, Älteres Gubernium, Kammerregistratur, Ein- und Auslauf, 1779, Fasz. 100)

Photo of Case files of the Mercantile Magistrate of Bolzano.

Case files of the Mercantile Magistrate of Bolzano: Case concerning the inspection of a damaged transport box with indigo, first page

The Mercantile Magistrate was founded in 1633 as a commercial court for the fairs at the city of Bolzano supported by merchants, on the basis of a privilege granted by the Princess Claudia de’ Medici, widow of Archduke Leopold. However, in the eighteenth century, the Mercantile Magistrate became much more than a merchant court: it developed into a centre of economic and political power for the city’s ruling class.

(Südtiroler Landesarchiv Bozen, Archiv des Merkantilmagistrats Bozen, Processi/Prozessakten, 1790–1792, Nr. 9, 1791)

Photo of the Letter from Road Inspector Mohr from 1765 addressed to “Mr Mr Frantz Peintner, merchant and tradesman, also innkeeper and host” in Innichen/San Candido

Business and family archives: Letter from Road Inspector Mohr from 1765 addressed to “Mr Mr Frantz Peintner, merchant and tradesman, also innkeeper and host” in Innichen/San Candido

The Wassermann collection, Niederdorf/Villabassa in the South Tyrolean Provincial Archives in Bolzano contains material on the Kurz and Mayr and other related families (Innichen/San Candido and Niederdorf/Villabassa) who were active as innkeepers, tradesmen and freight forwarders. Additional material can be found in the municipal archives of Innichen/San Candido.

(Südtiroler Landesarchiv Bozen, Familienarchiv und Sammlung Wassermann, Niederdorf, Position 225)

Images by kind permission of the Stadtarchiv Ulm, Staatsarchiv Graubünden Chur, Südtiroler Landesarchiv Bozen and Tiroler Landesarchiv Innsbruck.

Agents of Logistics and Infrastructure in Eighteenth-Century Alpine Transit Traffic

The project uses exceptionally rich source material.

ALPINNKONNECT provides, for the first time, a systematic analysis of interrelated actors and activities; organisation, administration and financing; built materiality, animals and impacts of non-human nature.