The Economy of Renaissance Florence

Contents

c o n t e n t s List of Tables, Figures, and Maps ix Preface xi Introduction: The Commercial Revolution 3 Economic Growth and Development in Italy to 1300 3 Trade with the Levant 3 Links to the North 8 The Tuscan Towns 12 Florence 23 Rise to Predominance 23 The Dynamics of Growth 30 part i international merchant banking 1 The Network 37 Performance 38 Dynamics of Change 38 Periodization 42 The Era of the Florin 48 Balance of Payments 57 Structures 63 The Firm 64 The Conduct of Business 80 Interfirm Relations 104 The Center 114 Florence and Regional Trade 114 Florence as International Emporium 120 2 The Shifting Geography of Commerce 126 Northwestern Europe 126 Naples and Southern Italy 136 vi Contents The Western Mediterranean 143 A Transport Revolution 143 The Iberian Peninsula 152 Southern France 162 The Later Sixteenth Century 167 Central Italy and Rome 170 Venice, the Adriatic, and the Levant 175 Central Europe 194 3 Banking and Finance 203 Banking 204 Deposits and Loans 205 International Transfer and Exchange 210 The Bill of Exchange as Credit Instrument 217 The International Exchange Market 222 Government Finance 230 Loans to Rulers 231 Risks 236 The Papacy 245 Competition and Innovation in the Sixteenth Century 255 part ii the urban economy 4 The Textile Industries 265 General Performance 267 The Wool Industry 267 The Silk Industry 282 Linen Drapers 296 Business Organization 298 The Firm 298 Operations beyond the Firm 308 Production 317 The Shop 317 The Work Force 322 Recapitulation: Wool, Silk, and the Economy 336 5 Artisans, Shopkeepers, Workers 341 The Work Force 342 Guilds 342 Artisans 349 Workers on the Margins of the Market 362 Contents vii Performance of the Artisan Sector 377 Demand-Driven Growth 377 Parameters of the Local Market 396 6 Banking and Credit 408 Banking Institutions through the Fifteenth Century 408 Historiographical Problems 408 Local Banks 411 Pawnbrokers 419 Welfare Institutions 424 Banks and the Government 426 Lack of a Banking System 429 Performance of the Banking Sector 430 Practices 430 Economic Functions 448 Bankruptcies 453 Banking outside of Banks 458 Offsetting 458 The Private Credit Market 463 New Directions in the Sixteenth Century 468 A Public Savings-and-Loan Bank 468 A Central Clearance Bank? 476 Conclusion 479 7 Contexts 484 Government and the Economy 484 Economic Policy 484 Fiscal Policy 494 Business Interests and Government 511 The Region and the City 516 Urban Geography 517 Industrial Resources 521 Agriculture 529 Economic Integration 533 Private Wealth 546 Social Mobility 546 A Profile of Wealth Distribution in 1427 560 Redistribution of Wealth in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 567 Conclusion 583 Economic Culture 583 Attitudes and Behavior 583 Notions about the Economy 590 Performance 594 The Economy in the Short Run 594 A Final Judgment 601 Appendix: Changing Values of the Florin 609 Index 615 viii Contents ...