You can see it immediately: this is about money and trade. The many inns and hotels were the linchpin of trading activities in Bruges. They provided the infrastructure for trade. Innkeepers and hoteliers were middle men who not only provided people with accommodation, but also stored goods, put merchants in touch with each another and facilitated transactions... One such Bruges hotelier families was called Van der Beurze. The word 'beurs' - Dutch for stock exchange - is derived from their name.
The money literally rolled into Bruges: here you can see a box with a weighing scale and weights. They were used to weigh coins to prove their value and authenticity. Or to expose them if they were counterfeit or too light.
This intense money trade resulted in the emergence of new institutions, professions, products and... paperwork: supporting documents and bookkeeping... Look, for example, at the receipt, a waiver of debt, which you can see here.
Infrastructure, goods, money, enterprising people from various corners of the world: 15th-century Bruges had it all. Italian traders played a major role in the development of money dealings. What's more, there were lots of traders from Spain, Portugal, England, and Northern and Eastern European cities that Bruges worked closely with, the so-called Hanseatic cities. This intense activity provided an unprecedented boost for the city.