Business Cycles and the Sense of Time in Medieval Genoa

Italians are known for their laid back sense of time, therefore it may be surprising to learn that Genoa was one of the first to document the date and time of day on documents. More than a century before the invention of the clock, the Genoese were keeping track of time by the hour. The medieval day contained 24 hours, twelve for night and twelve for day. Because these were numbered from sunset to sundown, the length of an hour varied depending on the season. Even though this may seem to be confusing, it was still helpful enough since primary reason for keeping track of time was to know when to pray. Prayer was to take place seven times at specific parts of the day. As time became more defined and specific it became central to business practices and norms in Genoa.

According to the notarial documents from the 13th century, there were seven times of day defined: prime, terce, nones, vespers, compline, evening, and night. Looking at the times recorded on business contracts we can tell that business was almost always conducted in the mid-morning hours between prime and nones. There are only a few exceptions to this morning schedule such as wills and some commodity sales. Some of the more interesting discoveries were that contracts such as land sales and dowries were consistently taking place in the mornings. The article explains that these transactions required cash and that the/morning was a time of day that people had access to cash, either from business operations or because the bank would be open. The Genoese used time to make businesses more efficient and rational. Keeping track of time was an advantage for any businessman who understood it.