The commercial travels of Martin Gruneweg (1562-after 1615) Introducing the first-person account of a commercial employee moving between Lviv and Istanbul in the years before and after 1600, the present paper focuses on the conduct of trade and caravan life as a personal experience. Ottoman historians have not often used this text, although it is available in a careful twenty-first century edition. Likely, they have hesitated because Martin Gruneweg’s description of his Ottoman experiences – visiting Istanbul several times, he has left a detailed record of his adventures on the road -- is only part of an extensive autobiography: the story includes lengthy episodes that have nothing to do with Ottoman history. Presumably, Gruneweg’s language, early modern German with its – to present-day eyes -- rather forbidding spelling, has not facilitated matters either. On the other hand, Gruneweg’s experiences in the service of an Armenian trader resident in Lviv/Lvov are most valuable for the historian of commerce, because the connection Istanbul-Lviv, by means of the commercial cum military road known to Ottomans as the sağ kol, was a significant source of silver coin for the Ottoman economy. On the return trip moreover, the caravan carried luxury goods including Mediterranean fruits, and these items are of interest as in recent years, there have been several studies of Ottoman luxuries in demand among the wealthier sectors of the Polish population. In addition, commercial historians will find Gruneweg’s description of his relations with his employer and the other Armenians in the caravan of considerable interest. After all, most travel accounts from the late 1500s and early 1600s are the work of scholars and/or embassy personnel, and commercial employees have left very few testimonies. Gruneweg has provided a generally sympathetic outsider’s view of Armenian merchants: these people had no links to New Julfa and the Iranian silk trade, favored topics among early modernists. In their own line of business however, these merchants were very successful. For scholars concerned with commercial organization, Gruneweg’s remarks on the role of the Armenian caravan leaders (kervan basis) repay a close study: to these merchant notables, the sultans had accorded semi-consular authority over the members of the caravan, as long as the latter was on the road. Thus, the commercial sections of Gruneweg’s travelogue help the historian to ‘flesh out’ the bare outlines of a little known but important aspect of Ottoman links with Eastern Europe.