in order to save his cargo, and he lost all his goods by a sudden assault of the Lemberg Armenians.
From Cracow there was also a road leading to the capital of Silesia, which was Cracow's constant rival for commercial superiority. Owing to this contest, the use of the Breslau route was not without danger. In 1344, Bolko, Duke of Opole (Oppeln in Prussian Silesia), took by surprise some Cracow merchants on their journey to Breslau for St. John's fair, and plundered all their goods to the value of about 200,000 ducats. The Breslau road led further to Prague, where Cracow merchants were allowed to trade by a privilege granted by Charles IV in 1378. These commercial relations with Bohemia had a direct influence on the Cracow mint: in imitation of the Prague model, the groschen became the monetary unit.
In 1306, Cracow was granted exclusive and unlimited stapleright for all transit goods: this of course placed the Cracow merchant in the important position of mediator, and considerably increased his significance. It was the rich merchants who made up the patrician class, and it was at their instance that Casimir the Great permitted the Cracow citizen to buy lands like a nobleman. These merchants also did banking business, and lent money to monarchs, even to the Emperor Charles IV himself. Later on, even the great families of nobility took part in commercial transactions: thus, e.g., the merchants of Nuremberg, in 1457, concluded a treaty with Gregory of Branice, Andrew of Tenczyn, John of Melsztyn, and John of Tarnow, by which they undertook to furnish 6,000 marks' worth of cloth and 2,000 marks' worth of damasks and silks. Through the mediation of Cracow merchants also the oak and yew of the forests of Little Poland (fit for the building of ships and the making of bows), the lead and salt of the neighbouring mines, and the produce of the country in linen, wax, and leather, got into the export trade. In 1410 the merchants formed a company, the more effectively to defend their rights. A danger that menaced them was the Prussian merchant, supported as he was by the iron hand of the Black-Cross Knights of the Teutonic Order. Owing to these, the early fifteenth century became a
