Reinhard of Reims: Prague Merchant and Exile in the Shadow of the Hussite Revolution

Abstract

This study follows the life of the merchant Reinhard of Reims, who moved to Prague in the 1390s and amassed significant property and a fair amount of political power due to his business activities. When the Hussite Revolution began, however, he had to leave Prague, and all his assets remaining in Bohemia were confiscated due to his political and religious beliefs. Like many other Prague merchants, he found a new home in Wroclaw, Silesia, a major hub for international trade. Reinhard continued to conduct his trade from exile in Wroclaw, taking part in the retrieval of valuables from abandoned Czech monasteries and other activities of exiles from Bohemia. After a peace was reached and Emperor Sigismund took the Czech throne, Reinhard achieved the restitution of some of his confiscated property.