Commercial Agreements and Social Dynamics in Medieval Genoa is an empirical study of medieval long-distance trade agreements and the surrounding social dynamics that transformed the feudal organization of men-of-arms into the world of Renaissance merchants. Drawing on 20,000 notarial records, the book traces the commercial partnerships of thousands of people in Genoa from 1150 to 1435 and reports social activity on a scale that is unprecedented for such an early period of history. In combining a detailed historical reading with network modeling to analyze the change in the long-distance trade relationships, Quentin van Doosselaere challenges the prevailing western-centric view of development. He demonstrates that the history of the three main medieval economic frameworks that brought about European capitalism - equity, credit, and insurance - was not driven by strategic merchants' economic optimizations but rather by a change in partners' selections that reflected the dynamic of the social structure as a whole.
Author(s): Quentin van Doosselaere
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 280
City: Cambridge
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Abbreviations
Currency
Unpublished Primary Sources
Published Primary Sources
Acknowledgments
1 From Sword into Capital
Medieval social and economic development
Social Foundation of Economic Development
Opportunistic Merchant
Genoa Long-Distance Trade
Dynamic of Social Ties
Medieval data
Notarial Records
Other Primary Sources
Scope, Periodicity, Monetary Scale, and Profits
Organization of the book
2 Genoa at the Dawn of the Commercial Expansion
2.1. The feudal commune
Origin
Dynamics of Social Organization
Military Ventures
Crusades
The Commune’s Foundation
Formal organization
Local Lordship
Commercialization of Feudal Privileges
Church
Public Office and Public Debt
2.2. Genoa and medieval trade to 1150
Early Medieval Trade
Genoa in Early Medieval Mediterranean Trade
Merchant Network
European trade network
Eastern Commercial Network
Trust Network
2.3. Linking two worlds
3 Equity Partnerships for Heterogeneous Ties
3.1 Commenda: a staple framework for occasional partners
Equity Partnerships
Origin of the Commenda
Goods
Autonomy and Improvisation
Destinations
3.2. JANUENSIS ERGO MERCATOR: THE MULTIVALENT GENOESE
Onomastic Considerations
Gender
Economy and Occupation
Sailing
Industry
Professions
Status and Politics
Tracing Lineage
Lineage Dynamics and Politics
3.3. Network dynamics: from clientelism to corporatism
Occasional Partnerships and Sampling
Hierarchy
Integration
Economic Growth
Partner Selection
Status as a "Rewiring" Attribute
Occupation as Network "Rewiring"
4 Credit Network for Routinized Merchants
The Rise of Commoners
4.1 Medieval credit instruments
Sample
Sample selection criteria
Periodicity
Sea Loans
Exchange Contracts
Overland Cambium
Maritime Exchange
Promissory Notes
Personal Surety
4.2 Credit network for regular traders
Occupation
Gender
Career
Density of Credit Network
4.3 Merchants
Places of Origin
Ligurians
Foreigners
Mercantile Craft
Drapers
Bankers
Commoner versus Aristocratic Mercantile Elite
Commoners
Aristocrats
Credit partner selection among the elites
5 Insurance Ties for Oligarchic Cohesion
State Decline
5.1. Genoese Clans
Kinship Ties in Genoa’s Medieval Commerce
Trade and Alberghi
5.2. Third-party Insurance
Antecedent
Risk
Maritime Insurance
Merchants as Underwriters
Individual Risk Covered
Premium
5.3. Oligarchic families
Core/Periphery
Leading Clans
Cohesion
Insurance Pairings
Test
Elite Cohesion
6 Conclusion
Appendix A Sample of Prices and Income (in £)
Appendix B Sample of Long-Distance Trade Participants’ Occupations, 1154–1400
Appendix C Commenda Network Graphs
Appendix D Nodal Degree Distributions of Commenda Networks, 1154–1315
Appendix E List of Top Mercantile Nonaristocratic Families, 1375–1450
Appendix F Partner Selection Probability Model
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Secondary Works2
Index
