Bruges, Cradle of Capitalism, 1280-1390

Bruges, Cradle of Capitalism, 1280-1390
Author: James M. Murray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2005-01-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521819213

Teeming with merchants from all over Europe, medieval Bruges provides an early model of a great capitalist city. Bruges established a sophisticated money market and an elaborate network of agents and brokers. Moreover, it promoted co-operation between merchants of various nations. In this book James Murray explores how Bruges became the commercial capital of northern Europe in the late fourteenth century. He argues that a combination of fortuitous changes such as the shift to sea-borne commerce and the extraordinary efforts of the city's population served to shape a great commercial centre. Areas explored include the political history of Bruges, its position as a node and network, the wool, cloth and gold trade and the role of women in the market. This book serves not only as a case-study in medieval economic history, but also as a social and cultural history of medieval Bruges.

Civic Ceremony and Religion in Medieval Bruges c.1300–1520

Civic Ceremony and Religion in Medieval Bruges c.1300–1520
Author: Andrew Brown
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2011-03-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139494740

Public religious practice lay at the heart of civic society in late medieval Europe. In this illuminating study, Andrew Brown draws on the rich and previously little-researched archives of Bruges, one of medieval Europe's wealthiest and most important towns, to explore the role of religion and ceremony in urban society. The author situates the religious practices of citizens - their investment in the liturgy, commemorative services, guilds and charity - within the contexts of Bruges' highly diversified society and of the changes and crises the town experienced. Focusing on the religious processions and festivities sponsored by the municipal government, the author challenges much current thinking on, for example, the nature of 'civic religion'. Re-evaluating the ceremonial links between Bruges and its rulers, he questions whether rulers could dominate the urban landscape by religious or ceremonial means, and offers new insight into the interplay between ritual and power of relevance throughout medieval Europe.

Medieval Bruges

Medieval Bruges
Author: Andrew Brown
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 574
Release: 2018-05-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 110832181X

Bruges was undoubtedly one of the most important cities in medieval Europe. Bringing together specialists from both archaeology and history, this 'total' history presents an integrated view of the city's history from its very beginnings, tracing its astonishing expansion through to its subsequent decline in the sixteenth century. The authors' analysis of its commercial growth, industrial production, socio-political changes, and cultural creativity is grounded in an understanding of the city's structure, its landscape and its built environment. More than just a biography of a city, this book places Bruges within a wider network of urban and rural development and its history in a comparative framework, thereby offering new insights into the nature of a metropolis.

Networks in the Early History of Capitalism

Networks in the Early History of Capitalism
Author: Stefania Montemezzo
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2024-10-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1040217230

Drawing on a detailed examination of Venetian commerce in the Middle Ages, this book explores the business practices and structures that enabled merchants to compete in a challenging international market. Contributing to the literature on the early history of capitalism, this book demonstrates how Venetian merchants combined innovation with traditional methods to maintain their edge in a competitive world, providing valuable lessons on resilience and strategic planning in commerce. Small- and mid-sized commercial companies operating across borders and geographies in the early Renaissance period faced numerous challenges, including identifying profitable sectors and businesses, developing effective business strategies, dealing with peers and subordinates, managing the flow of information, and assessing risks and potential rewards. The chapters explore a range of topics in this context, including the roles of family-based firms, the strategic deployment of agents, and the impact of state policies on private enterprise. Readers are introduced to the ways Venetian merchants managed capital, adapted to market demands, and overcame obstacles like wars and resource shortages. This book will be of significant interest to historians and social scientists researching economic history, the history of trade, the history of capitalism, medieval and Renaissance history, and historical network analysis.

The Invention of Enterprise

The Invention of Enterprise
Author: David S. Landes
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 584
Release: 2012-02-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 069115452X

This work provides a sweeping history of enterprise in Mesopotamia and Neo-Babylon; carries the reader through the Islamic Middle East; offers insights into the entrepreneurial history of China, Japan, and colonial India; and describes the crucial role of the entrepreneur in innovation activity in the Western world.

The Evolution of the Property Relation

The Evolution of the Property Relation
Author: A. Davis
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2015-02-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1137346566

Evolution of the Property Relation defines an approach to economics which is centered around the concept of property and explores the historical evolution of the relationship of the individual, private property, and the state, and the distinctive changes wrought by the emergence of the market.

Private Bankers in the Italian 19th Century

Private Bankers in the Italian 19th Century
Author: Luciano Maffi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2020-12-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030633616

The book analyses the role of private bankers who were pivotal in modernizing the economic and financial system of Italy in the XIX century. To achieve this they needed to interact with the international haute banque to organize and place the public loans and the large investments associated with the joint-stock companies. The theme of reputation, which is currently at the centre of the historiographical debate, is fundamental for the study of the private banker figures, whose professional success is linked to the limitless trust accorded to them by their circle of personal contacts. Historiography has studied the role of Italian bankers in the trade, credit and international finance during the modern age (XVI-XVIII centuries), but it has not analysed the banking system in the XIX century and its national and international relations. The case study of Banca Parodi of Genova fills the historiographical gap concerning the role of private bankers and banking institutions in Italy, highlighting the network between the Parodi family and the international haute banque; one of the most emblematic cases is the Rothschild family. The book presents a re-elaborates series of unpublished data, placing them at the disposal of the scientific community and analyses the role of private bankers in the development of Italian banking institutions in the XIX century to launch a scientific debate.

Merchants and Trading in the Sixteenth Century

Merchants and Trading in the Sixteenth Century
Author: Jeroen Puttevils
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2015-10-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317316630

Sixteenth-century Europe was powered by commerce. Whilst mercantile groups from many areas prospered, those from the Low Countries were particularly successful. This study, based on extensive archival research, charts the ascent of the merchants established around Antwerp.

Amsterdam's Sephardic Merchants and the Atlantic Sugar Trade in the Seventeenth Century

Amsterdam's Sephardic Merchants and the Atlantic Sugar Trade in the Seventeenth Century
Author: Yda Schreuder
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2018-10-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 3319970615

This book surveys the role of Amsterdam’s Sephardic merchants in the westward expansion of sugar production and trade in the seventeenth-century Atlantic. It offers an historical-geographic perspective, linking Amsterdam as an emerging staple market to a network of merchants of the “Portuguese Nation,” conducting trade from the Iberian Peninsula and Brazil. Examining the “Myth of the Dutch,” the “Sephardic Moment,” and the impact of the British Navigation Acts, Yda Schreuder focuses attention on Barbados and Jamaica and demonstrates how Amsterdam remained Europe’s primary sugar refining center through most of the seventeenth century and how Sephardic merchants played a significant role in sustaining the sugar trade.

Shaping Medieval Markets

Shaping Medieval Markets
Author: Jessica Dijkman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2011-08-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9004201483

In the late Middle Ages the county of Holland experienced a process of uncommonly rapid commercialisation. Comparing Holland to England and Flanders this book examines how the institutions that shaped commodity markets contributed to this remarkable development.