Preliminary Programme

Wed 23 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 24 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 17.30

Fri 25 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 26 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

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Wednesday 23 April 2014 16.30 - 18.30
G-4 ECO03 Roundtable: Re-Thinking Merchants and Institutions in the Medieval and Early Modern European Economy, 1250–1650
Hörsaal 23 first floor
Network: Economic History Chair: Catia Antunes
Organizers: Flavio Miranda, Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz Discussant: Andrea Caracausi
Angela Huang : From ‘Merchants Good’ to Trademark: Institutions in Medieval Textile Trade.
The textile industry must without any doubt be counted among the key industries in pre-modern Europe and beyond. In fact, it has been characterized as the driving force in Europe’s industrial progress. The importance of the textile industry for Europe’s economic development derives from the increasing consumption of a growing ... (Show more)
The textile industry must without any doubt be counted among the key industries in pre-modern Europe and beyond. In fact, it has been characterized as the driving force in Europe’s industrial progress. The importance of the textile industry for Europe’s economic development derives from the increasing consumption of a growing diversity of textiles throughout time.
In the Middle Ages as the period under investigation in this paper, first luxury woollens were by far the most important fabric traded all throughout Europe. In consequence of the socio-economic changes brought about by recurring outbreaks of the Plague in the Late Middle Ages, however, the overall patterns of European textile consumption changed remarkably. Now, cheaper woollen cloth more and more cornered the market. More importantly, linen production rose steadily, meeting the increasing demand for linens for clothing (e.g. under garments, linings) and domestic use (e.g. bedclothes, tablecloths). In step with this widening in linen consumption, household production was expanding, partly organized by the putting-out system. Also, an industrial production developed in the towns, carried out by guilds. Besides these changes in the woollen and the linen industry, new fabrics came into the markets, too. These were mainly blended fabrics, as e.g. the well-known fustian. In general it can be said that in the Late Middle Ages most textiles traded were of a mediocre quality or of a low price level. These textiles were traded in much bigger quantities than before to serve the needs not only of the nobility and the patriciate, but also of craftsmen and peasants.
The outlined development of textile production and trade throughout the Middle Ages asked for changes in the institutional framework underlying this sector of trade. This paper will investigate the institutional foundation supporting the changing textile trade throughout the Middle Ages, taking the hanseatic textile trade as an example.
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Carsten Jahnke : The Hanse, a Merchant Institution for Cross-cultural Trade in the Eastern Baltic?
Until recently the German Hanse was attributed to the superb German culture and merchandise technic in the barbarian world of the North. Historians are talking about the Hanseatic Culture or the supremacy or backwardness of the hanseatic culture of trade. But until lately, no one has seen the Hanse in ... (Show more)
Until recently the German Hanse was attributed to the superb German culture and merchandise technic in the barbarian world of the North. Historians are talking about the Hanseatic Culture or the supremacy or backwardness of the hanseatic culture of trade. But until lately, no one has seen the Hanse in the light of an economical usefulness or a greater economical theory. In this paper I will not only discuss the development of the Hanse as an economical transmitter in the Baltic, but I will also discuss the advantage of the Hanseatic system in the light of the geographical problems of this area. By source material from the archives of Tallinn I will show the function and the problems of this system, working from the 14th to the middle of the 16th century. It shall be shown, that the Hanse made not only the institutional framework for the long-distant trade between the Baltic and the West, but also for the cross-cultural trade, f.e. the trade with Russia and Lithuania.
The Hanse was one backbone of trade, but not the only one. Regional aspects as well as separate interests of some groups and merchants inside the Hanse struggled with the interests of the institution as a whole and by this, hanseatic politics was every time looking for the best equilibration. By the beginning of the 16th century, the interests of the Hanse and that of the regional merchants inside this organisation began to diverge. Also these problems can be clarified by source-material from Tallinn and also this will cast some lights onto the working-areas and restrictions of the Hanse.
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Christof Jeggle : Institutions and Organizations in Seventeenth-Century Transalpine Trade
Transalpine Trade between Southern Germany and Italy constituted one of the backbones of European commerce since the Middle Ages. After a long period of growth the volume of trade had reached a peak around 1620, while a significant decline occurred shortly after caused by the Thirty-Years War and the severe ... (Show more)
Transalpine Trade between Southern Germany and Italy constituted one of the backbones of European commerce since the Middle Ages. After a long period of growth the volume of trade had reached a peak around 1620, while a significant decline occurred shortly after caused by the Thirty-Years War and the severe plagues around 1630. Because of the expansion of European overseas commerce based on Atlantic port cities Transalpine trade was considered of declining importance for European commerce by economic historians. More recently its continued relevance for the European economy is being reconsidered. While the established commercial relations went into crisis, merchants and political authorities tried to keep up and rearrange the commercial exchange across the Alps. The institutional and organizational transformations and innovations related to these developments will be discussed. After 1620 not growth in volume but changes in commercial practices and thus of institutions and organizations of trade were an important characteristic of the period. (Show less)

Ulla Kypta : Coping with Divergence: Merchants and their Institutions at the Boundary between Lower and Higher Germany
My paper deals with mercantile institutions at the boundary between Lower and Higher Germany. Both merchants from Lower and Higher Germany have been extensively studied for the last decades. Research suggests that institutional settings, e.g. business structure, financial facilities or the flow of information, varied significantly between these two groups. ... (Show more)
My paper deals with mercantile institutions at the boundary between Lower and Higher Germany. Both merchants from Lower and Higher Germany have been extensively studied for the last decades. Research suggests that institutional settings, e.g. business structure, financial facilities or the flow of information, varied significantly between these two groups. This poses the question of what happened when merchants from northern and southern Germany met in an area where their trading interests overlapped.
Therefore, my paper analyses how trade was carried out in the contact zone between merchants from Lower and Higher Germany. Can we find a clash of different institutional settings? If so, how did merchants cope with it? There wasn’t an overarching public authority to regulate or mediate between merchants from Higher and Lower Germany. Institutions which made trade possible had to emerge out of day-to-day, practical dealings between the merchants. Thus, my paper focuses on institutions which could help to facilitate trade between different economic regions. These institutions, developed from everyday contact between merchants, were essential building blocks for the European economic integration in the Late Middle Ages. (Show less)

Flavio Miranda : Merchants and Institutions in Fifteenth-Century Portugal
When, how, and why were institutions related to overseas commerce created in medieval Portugal? How significant were they in the regulation and control of the economic activities of merchants? Recent historiography has stressed the importance of institutions and rules for the development of economic activities in medieval Europe, and that ... (Show more)
When, how, and why were institutions related to overseas commerce created in medieval Portugal? How significant were they in the regulation and control of the economic activities of merchants? Recent historiography has stressed the importance of institutions and rules for the development of economic activities in medieval Europe, and that the commercial expansion benefited from the rivalry between urban centres for the creation of ‘open-access institutions for international trade’. This paper will insert the Portuguese case in this ongoing debate by analysing the role of merchants in the process of institutionalisation of the Portuguese medieval economy, by examining commercial, legal, and normative rules and their effect on trade. For this, royal, urban and merchant institutions will be under scrutiny to understand the advantages, hindrances, and the balance of power between them. The hypothesis put forward in this paper is that despite an earlier use of urban institutions for their own personal benefit, fifteenth-century state centralisation in Portugal suffocated much of the advantages built in the past. (Show less)

Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz : 'Institutions of (Mercantile) Conflict Resolution. The Case of a Hanseatic Town (Danzig) in Context'
One of the most challenging aspects of conducting trade in medieval and early modern Europe was
dealing with (the possibility) of conflict. Both small- and large scale conflicts could be potentially
disastrous for trade. Traders developed various strategies to cope with conflicts, and made use
of various institutional frameworks. These strategies, and the ... (Show more)
One of the most challenging aspects of conducting trade in medieval and early modern Europe was
dealing with (the possibility) of conflict. Both small- and large scale conflicts could be potentially
disastrous for trade. Traders developed various strategies to cope with conflicts, and made use
of various institutional frameworks. These strategies, and the institutional frameworks, changed
over time. This paper investigates the factors behind the changes. New findings from the archive in
Gdansk, concerning trade in and of Hanseatic Danzig in the period c. 1450-1580, will be discussed in a
broader context. In particular, the challenges the use of the concept (mercantile) conflict resolution
institutions will be addressed.
(Show less)



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