Lenguaje, ideales y concepciones en las cartas del mercader Francesco Datini

Every time a crisis occurs, we turn back in history seeking for elements of comprehension. Can we find historical documents, particularly during the Middle Ages, to be inquired with our questions? Within the correspondence of a merchant, Francesco di Marco Datini (1335-1410), «the merchant of Prato», we find impressing materials for our research. Datini’s speaking by writing, his language and conceptions are exceptional elements to understand the medieval mentality and society. By examining his letters, we will never dive into the rationality of an individualistic reason. To the contrary, they reveal the audacity of realism, sometimes a more appropriate term to translate the medieval meaning of reason. On the eve of the early Modern era, this was exactly the element felt into a crisis, and that is the same crisis affecting our times. Then, in light of these pioneers of markets and finance, we can rethink many prejudices of our times in order to retrieve something that belongs to our identity.