Chair of Economic and Social History at the University of Regensburg

Founded in 2011, the Chair of Economic and Social History at the Faculty of Philosophy, Arts, History and Social Sciences at the University of Regensburg is dedicated to the economic and social dimension of human activity in the past. The subject is therefore more structural in nature than other sub-disciplines of historical studies. At the same time, it deals much more intensively with the everyday life of people in historical societies, which was very much characterised by work and hardship.

What distinguishes our society today from earlier ones is the high (material) standard of living that large parts of the population enjoy. Tracing this historically, however, becomes all the more difficult the further one goes back into the past. For the centuries before 1800, i.e. the pre-modern era, real wages are the most meaningful indicator, especially since they can be used to track the standard of living of individual occupational groups as well as broad sections of the population.

Account books, for example of municipalities, monasteries or hospitals, offer historical sources for research into living standards. They contain information about people’s everyday lives (food, wages, prices, etc.). The archives at St. Katharinenspital hospital have a very special collection of account books, which dates back to the year 1356 without almost any gaps. The Chair of Economic and Social History is significantly involved in researching this historical "treasure".

• The objects of the "Chair of Economic and Social History at the University of Regensburg" available on bavarikon

The collections of the "Chair of Economic and Social History at the University of Regensburg" available on bavarikon

• The account books of the Regensburg St. Katharinenspital 1354/59 to 1934