DOCSLIB.ORG

THE ZACCARIA DEAL * Contract and Options to Fund a Genoese Shipment of Alum to Bruges in 1298 Eric Briys ‡ Didier Joos De

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE ZACCARIA DEAL * Contract and Options to Fund a Genoese Shipment of Alum to Bruges in 1298 Eric Briys ‡ Didier Joos De © Eric Briys, Didier Joos de ter Beerst, all rights reserved THE ZACCARIA DEAL * Contract and options to fund a Genoese shipment of alum to Bruges in 1298 Eric Briys ‡ Didier Joos de ter Beerst § This draft : July 2006 Presented at XIV International Economic History Congress, (Helsinki, August 2006) Abstract : This paper analyses one of the most fascinating late medieval commercial contract. Some have advanced that it is was the first ever written maritime insurance. If any contract is a nexus of options, our inquiry demonstrates that Genoese merchants in XIIIe designed unique option-based provisions in order to match all together: (I) expectations and risk appetite from contracting parties; (ii) the logic of the business model for long distant maritime trade; (iii) the prevailing institutional context. Benedetto Zaccaria (circa 1240-1307), the central figure in this deal, established his leadership in the trading of alum from mines in the East, in today’s Turkey, to Western Europe. This leadership was based on his unique business franchise : exclusivity of supply from one of the two biggest alum mines, diplomatic and military connections with many rulers, nautical skills. Zaccaria managed this franchise by numerous contracts with family members, associates, external financiers. These contracts were aimed at both managing his business but also designing original risks management solutions to mitigate, transfer and finance risks attached to his business: price, casualty, currency, liquidity. Contracting had some institutional constraints : the sea loan prohibition (Naviganti, 1334), the absence of a stock- exchange and insurance underwriters, the lack of Genoese sedentary agents and public institutions in Low Countries. However, the Genoese merchants could also build on numerous institutional tools : a range of standard forms of investment contracts, the familial clan (albergo) and network of prominent families, the law organising trade and enforcing contracts. Key words : Risk Management, Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Institutions, Insurance, Contracts, Options. _____________________________________________________________________________________ A first draft of some parts of this study has been presented at the International Finance Conference of AFFI in 2005 (Tunisia) and 2006 (France). This paper has also benefited from inputs from participants of the 2004-2006Solvay Business School’s Executive Master in Finance (University of Brussels, Belgium). We thank Micael Castanheira di Mauro for his comments, Nicolette Brout for her input on the translation from Latin. All errors are ours. ‡ Eric Briys is co-founder of Cyberlibris (www.cyberlibris.com), visiting professor at Solvay Business School (SBS, Belgium) and associate professor at the University of French West Indies. § Didier Joos de ter Beerst is senior manager in corporate finance and business development in a publicly quoted company in Belgium. Views expressed in this paper only engage the author. Comments are welcomed, and could be sent by email to the [email protected]. 1 © Eric Briys, Didier Joos de ter Beerst, all rights reserved INTRODUCTION On October 29th, 1298, a rich Genoese merchant, but also a prominent nobleman, diplomat and admiral, Benedetto Zaccaria, and his son, organized a venture focusing on the shipment of 650 cantari, about 35 tons, of alum from Aigues-Mortes to Bruges. Through a remarkable three page notarial contract, the Zaccarias raised capital and transferred some risks to two external investors : Enrico Suppa and Baliano Grillo. This transaction is one of the most fascinating example of original forms of contracting developed during late middle age, and in particular in Genoa. This contract is said to be, among other things, one of the first ever insurance contract ever underwritten. This paper shows how the reading of this medieval contract delivers insightful information for historians, economists, modern financiers about economic exchange. It also shows that combining History (medieval Genoa), Economics (Contract Theory) and Finance (Option Pricing Theory) provides powerful lens to decipher economic history. We take the opportunity of the 2006 International Economic History Conference to discuss the following topic introducing its session 110 (“Tools of Trade”): “Maritime trade […] flourished and replaced to a large extent transcontinental routes. City governments and urban elites, the rising states, but also the merchants and financiers themselves created new or adapted existing institutions and commercial tools in order to adjust to changing circumstances. This surprisingly complex mix of innovation and continuity stimulated trade in this difficult period, but laid also the foundations of growth in the beginning of the Early Modern Period. This session […] wants to measure and compare the organisation and infrastructure of gateway trade in cities like Bruges and Venice […] and the ways in which merchants and financiers found new possibilities or changed existing ones in this organisational framework (accountancy, financial techniques, transport, firms, network trade) ” Our historical inquiry, (i) adds medieval Genoa to the list of cities (Bruges, Venice) where institutions and merchants fuelled maritime trade; (ii) provides insights about Benedetto Zaccaria who is precisely the one who initiated direct maritime shipments from Mediterranean to Low countries; (iii) analyses a fascinating “innovative” financial technique. However, we do not believe it is possible to explain the foundations of economic growth by analysing the historical development of institutions as well as the emergence of contractual innovations. Institutions, markets and trust are the backbone of exchange, but broad causal explanation is impossible in History. Our investigation is a context-specific inquiry that does not tell the why, but shows the how one remarkable outcome, a three page contract, emerged in 1298 in Genoa. Economists and financiers view any venture as a nexus of contracts. Modern Option Theory approaches contract as a package of options. Options are aimed at fulfilling economic functions for contracting parties. These functions take place within a context-specific market and institutional framework, and this paper analyses the one existing in 1298 Genoa. Part I deals with the methodology and the existing literature. It discuss why historians, economists and financiers have not succeeded so far to explain neither the medieval rise of the Western Europe, and Genoa in particular in XII-XIIIe, nor the medieval origin of “insurance” or “firms”. We develop our descriptive approach. Part II puts this contract into its historical context and further details the business model for alum trade as well as the historical market and institutional settings. Part III goes through an extensive reading of the contract, which is modelled analytically, in order to show how it addresses both the business objectives and the institutional and market framework. We provide our conclusion. 2 © Eric Briys, Didier Joos de ter Beerst, all rights reserved PART I : On Medieval History, Economics and Finance “It is men who write History, but they don’t know the History they write » Raymond Aron “The world of human beings is a permanent improvisation” Robert Musil, Man without quality Before starting our historical inquiry into the details of this remarkable contract, it is important to explain first our objectives and methodology. We first review the existing economic history literature from historians, economists and modern financiers. All of them provide useful inputs, although often each of them often ignored advanced made by the others, but they have in common a problem. They want to explain the past by finding a causal origin of an historical phenomenon, being the medieval rise of Western economies and Genoa in particular around XI- XIIIe, or the emergence of innovative form of contracting like risk insurance. The alternative we develop is that research should not focus on causal explanations but on descriptions of context- specific solutions designed by economic agents. These solutions are game of options that support economic exchange. Writing economic history after Kant One of the most important idea about science and knowledge has been captured by I. Kant in his “Kritik der reinen Vernunft” : “If the receptivity of our mind, its power of receiving representations in so far as it is in any wise affected, is to be entitled sensibility, then the mind's power of producing representations from itself, the spontaneity of knowledge, should be called the understanding. Our nature is so constituted that our intuition can never be other than sensible; that is, it contains only the mode in which we are affected by objects. The faculty, on the other hand, which enables us to think the object of sensible intuition is the understanding. To neither of these powers may a preference be given over the other. Without sensibility no object would be given to us, without understanding no object would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.” 1 In modern wording, a science based on a logical deduction of universal rules without empirical facts provided by experiment is “empty”, but a knowledge based only on induction from facts without a set of a priori logical deductive rules to subsume the particular under a universal is “blind”. The problem is that, for Kant, and even if it was the objective of his original project, there is no a
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Gattilusj of Lesbos (1355—1462). «Me Clara Caesar Donat Leebo Ac Mytilene, Caesar, Qui Graio Praesidet Iraperio'
    The Gattilusj of Lesbos (1355—1462). «Me clara Caesar donat Leebo ac Mytilene, Caesar, qui Graio praesidet iraperio'. Corsi apud Folieta The Genoese occupation of Chios, Lesbos, and Phokaia by the families of Zaccaria and Cattaneo was not forgotten in the counting- houses of the Ligurian Republic. In 1346, two years after the capture of Smyrna, Chios once more passed under Genoese control, the two Foglie followed suite, and in 1355 the strife between John Cantacuzene and John V Palaiologos for the throne of Byzantium enabled a daring Genoese, Francesco Gattilusio, to found a dynasty in Lesbos, which gradually extended its branches to the islands of the Thracian sea and to the city of Ainos on the opposite mainland, and which lasted in the original seat for more than a Century. Disappointed in a previous attempt to recover his rights, the young Emperor John V was at this time living in retirement on the island of Tenedos, then a portion of the Greek Empire and from its position at the mouth of the Dardanelles both an excellent post of obserration and a good base for a descent upon Constantinople. During his so- journ there, a couple of Genoese galleys arrived, commanded by Fran- cesco Gattilusio, a wealthy freebooter, who had sailed from his native oity to onrvp rmt for himself, annidst the confusion of the Orient, a petty principality in the Thracian Chersonese, äs others of his compa- triots had twice done in Chios, äs the Venetian nobles had done in the Archipelago 150 years earlier. The Emperor found in this chance visi- tor an Instrument to effect his own restoration; the two men came to terms, and John V promised, that if Gattilusio would help him to recover his throne, he would bestow upon him the hand of his sister Maria — an honour similar to that conferred by Michael VIII upon Benedetto Zaccaria.
    [Show full text]
  • Genealogical History of the Noble Families Fr Om Tuscany and Umbria Recounted by D
    A few days ago, our common friend and Guadagni historian Henri Guignard, from Boutheon, Lyon, France, has sent me by email an old book written in 1668, 202 years before Passerini’s book, on the history and genealogy of the noble families of Tuscany in 17th century Italian, with many pages on the history of the Guadagni. It is a fascinating document, starting to relate the family history before the year 1000, so more than a century before Passerini, and I will start translating it hereafter. GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE NOBLE FAMILIES FR OM TUSCANY AND UMBRIA RECOUNTED BY D. Father EUGENIO GAMURRINI Monk from Cassino, Noble from Arezzo, Academic full of passion, Abbot, Counselor and Ordinary Alms Giver OF HIS VERY CHRISTIAN MAJESTY LOUIS XIV, KING OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE, Theologian and Friend of HIS VERY SEREINE HIGHNESS COSIMO III Prince of Tuscany dedicated to the SAME HIGHNESS, FIRST VOLUME IN FLORENCE, In Francesco Onofri’s Printing House. 1668. With license of the Superiors. Louis XIV, King of France, known as the Sun King, 1638-1715 Cosimo III, Granduke of Tuscany, 1642-1723 Cosimo III as a child (left) and as a young man (right) THE GUADAGNI FAMILY FROM FLORENCE The Guadagni Family is so ancient and has always been so powerful in wealth and men that some people believe that they could originate from the glorious family of the Counts Guidi, as the latter owned many properties in proximity of the large fiefs of the former; however, after having made all the possible researches, we were unable to prove this hypothesis; on the other hand, we can confortably prove that they originate from families now extinct; to illustrate this opinion we will now tell everything we found.
    [Show full text]
  • Archivio Segreto, Paesi Diversi in Lettera
    http://www.archiviodistatoGenova.beniculturali.it Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali e per il turismo Archivio di Stato di Genova Archivio segreto, Paesi diversi in lettera Regesti dei documenti Inventario n. 32 trascritto a cura di Liliana Piscioneri Genova, gennaio 2021, versione 1.0 - 1 - http://www.archiviodistatoGenova.beniculturali.it ISTRUZIONI P R LA RI"#I STA D LL UNITÀ AR"#I&ISTI"# Nella richiesta occorre indicare il nome del )ondo archivistico, il numero della *usta (che nell’inventario - riportato in corris.ondenza di ciascun regesto, in neretto) e l’identificativo del regesto: Località Data Regesto Numero generale Archivio segreto 25) Albenga 1390 feb. 26 Sentenza emessa nella 341 controversia tra il Comune di Albenga e Villa Salice del Contado di Albenga (copia) occorre richiedere ARCHIVIO SEGRETO, 341, documento di cui al regesto n. 25 SUGGERI3 NTI P R LA CITAZION D LL UNITÀ AR"#I&ISTI"# Per citare la documentazione di 4uesto )ondo, )erme restando le norme adottate nella sede editoriale di destinazione dello scritto, sar5 .re)eribile indicare la denominazione co(.leta dell’istituto di conservazione e del )ondo archivistico, seguite dal numero della *usta e dall’indicazione del fascicolo ri)erito alla singola località. Ad ese(.io, per citare Località Data Regesto Numero generale Archivio segreto 25) Albenga 1390 feb. 26 Sentenza emessa nella 341 controversia tra il Comune di Albenga e Villa Salice del Contado di Albenga (copia) - bene indicare: Archivio di Stato di Genova, Archivio segreto, n. 341, Albenga. - 2 - http://www.archiviodistatoGenova.beniculturali.it Nota archivistica La serie Paesi diversi in lettera, corris.ondente alle unit5 341-370 del )ondo !rchivio segreto, - una delle raccolte diplomatiche che, a .artire da un nucleo di documenti .ro*abilmente già isolato nel corso dell’et5 (oderna, sono state costituite e ordinate, secondo criteri non storici e tipicamente sabaudi, durante la .ermanenza .resso gli !rchivi di "orte a Torino, nella .rima met5 del secolo XIX.
    [Show full text]
  • The Past, Present, and Future of Economics: a Celebration of the 125-Year Anniversary of the JPE and of Chicago Economics
    The Past, Present, and Future of Economics: A Celebration of the 125-Year Anniversary of the JPE and of Chicago Economics Introduction John List Chairperson, Department of Economics Harald Uhlig Head Editor, Journal of Political Economy The Journal of Political Economy is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. For that occasion, we decided to do something special for the JPE and for Chicago economics. We invited our senior colleagues at the de- partment and several at Booth to contribute to this collection of essays. We asked them to contribute around 5 pages of final printed pages plus ref- erences, providing their own and possibly unique perspective on the var- ious fields that we cover. There was not much in terms of instructions. On purpose, this special section is intended as a kaleidoscope, as a colorful assembly of views and perspectives, with the authors each bringing their own perspective and personality to bear. Each was given a topic according to his or her spe- cialty as a starting point, though quite a few chose to deviate from that, and that was welcome. Some chose to collaborate, whereas others did not. While not intended to be as encompassing as, say, a handbook chapter, we asked our colleagues that it would be good to point to a few key papers published in the JPE as a way of celebrating the influence of this journal in their field. It was suggested that we assemble the 200 most-cited papers published in the JPE as a guide and divvy them up across the contribu- tors, and so we did (with all the appropriate caveats).
    [Show full text]
  • Journa{ of Tfze Frencft-Caruufian 1-Ftritage Society of Micftigan
    E R I T A G ··E.· Journa{ of tfze frencft-Caruufian 1-ftritage Society of Micftigan . ' Vol. 28 #2 Apr. 2007 Correction of Catherine Baillon's Grimaldi Ancestry John P. DuLong, FCHSM member ([email protected]) Many French Canadians descend from the noble lady Catherine Baillon and through her they have ancestors far removed from the cold shores of the St. Lawrence. Among her medieval Franco-Italian ancestors who once basked in the warmth of the Mediterranean are the Grimaldis. In the Table d'ascendance de Catherine Bail/on (12 generations) two Grimaldi descents for Catherine Baillon are presented. 1 The first goes through the Grimaldi of Beuil family and the second is through the Grimaldi of Antibes family. 2 While the former stands intact, the latter is in need of correction. In the ninth generation of Catherine Baillon's ancestry she descends from Rainier Lascaris, count of Vintimille and co-seigneur of La Briga and Limone. He was the son of Ludovic (or Louis) Lascaris, count ofVintimille, and Tiburge Grimaldi de Beuil. Rainier was married around 1400-1403 to Madeleine Grimaldi, the daughter of Luc Grimaldi and Yolande Grimaldi, whose parents, and thus her relationship to Luc, are unknown. Luc was the brother of Marc Grimaldi, with whom he shared the seigneuries of Antibes, Cagnes, and Menton. 3 It is well established that Luc and Marc were the sons of Antoine Grimaldi who was married to Catherine Doria. 4 The issue is who are the parents of Antoine Grimaldi? In the Table d'ascendance de Catherine Bail/on (12 generations) the answer to this question is that Antoine Grimaldi was the son of Rainier I Grimaldi, the founder of the family that eventually became the princes of Monaco.
    [Show full text]
  • Biagio Assereto
    GIOVANNA BALBI UOMINI D’ARME E DI CULTURA NEL QUATTROCENTO GENOVESE: BIAGIO ASSERETO Società Ligure di Storia Patria - biblioteca digitale - 2012 . I • Società Ligure di Storia Patria - biblioteca digitale - 2012 I DA NOTAIO AD AMMIRAGLIO DELLA REPUBBLICA GENOVESE Verso la fine dell agitato secolo XIV in Genova, dopo che le antiche famiglie dei Boccanegra, degli Adorno, dei Fieschi, degli Spinola, avevano esaurito se stesse e le loro sostanze in lotte di ri­ valità partigiana e favorito l’avvento della prima dominazione stra­ niera da parte di Carlo VI, re di Francia, emersero nella vita pub­ blica nuove forze e nuove famiglie che colmarono il vuoto lasciato dagli esuli o dai morti. Fra queste furono gli Assereto, di origine popolare, provenienti dalla Riviera di Levante, e precisamente da Recco e Rapallo, tra­ sferitisi- da circa cinquanta anni in Genova. Al ramo di Rapallo apparteneva Biagio, colui che diede maggior lustro alla famiglia 1. anche se la sua figura ed il suo operato furono giudicati in modo assai contrastante dai suoi contemporanei e dagli storici1 posteriori. Noi, prima di pronunciarci, desideriamo tracciare un profilo del­ l’uomo e degli avvenimenti nei quali egli si trovò coinvolto. Già sul nome e sull’attività del padre esistono divergenze di opinioni 1 A giudizio degli stessi Assereto: cfr. R. B. Riccardo, Orazione per l'in­ coronazione del serenissimo Gerolamo Assereto duce dì Genova, in Orazioni pane­ giriche di diversi per l'incoronazione dei dogi di Genova. Genova, 1607, p p. 16-18, Alcuni storici genovesi (cfr. F. Federici, Abecedario delle famiglie geno­ vesi, ms. dei secc.
    [Show full text]
  • Malaspina E La Sardegna
    TESTI E DOCUMENTI Heureux celui qui peut d’une aile vigoureuse S’élancer vers les champs lumineux et sereins; Celui dont les pensers, comme des alouettes, Vers les cieux le matin prennent un libre essor, – Qui plane sur la vie, et comprend sans effort Le langage des fleurs et des choses muettes! Charles Baudelaire, Elévation Opera pubblicata con il contributo della Regione Autonoma della Sardegna Assessorato della Pubblica Istruzione, Beni Culturali, Informazione, Spettacolo e Sport I MALASPINA E LA SARDEGNA Documenti e testi dei secoli XII-XIV a cura di Alessandro Soddu CENTRO DI STUDI FILOLOGICI SARDI / CUEC TESTI E DOCUMENTI coordinamento editoriale CENTRO DI STUDI FILOLOGICI SARDI / CUEC I Malaspina e la Sardegna. Documenti e testi dei secoli XII-XIV ISBN 88-8467-293-7 CUEC EDITRICE © 2005 prima edizione novembre 2005 CENTRO DI STUDI FILOLOGICI SARDI PRESIDENTE Nicola Tanda DIRETTORE Giuseppe Marci CONSIGLIERI Marcello Cocco, Mauro Pala, Maurizio Virdis Via Principessa Iolanda, 68 07100 Sassari Via Bottego, 7 09125 Cagliari Tel. 070344042 - Fax 0703459844 www.centrostudifilologici.it info@centrostudifilologici.it CUEC Cooperativa Universitaria Editrice Cagliaritana Via Is Mirrionis, 1 09123 Cagliari Tel. 070271573 - Fax 070291201 www.cuec.it [email protected] Realizzazione grafica Biplano, Cagliari Stampa Grafiche Ghiani, Monastir (Ca) Archivo de la Corona de Aragón, Cancillería, Pergaminos de Pedro III, n. 2301 INTRODUZIONE I Malaspina nella storiografia «La fama che la vostra casa onora, / grida i segnori e grida la contrada, / sì che ne sa chi non vi fu ancora; / e io vi giuro, s’io di sopra vada, / che vostra gente onrata non si sfregia / del pregio de la borsa e de la spada.»1.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 8 Building a State: Genoa's Rise and Fall
    Chapter 8 Building a State: Genoa’s Rise and Fall Many countries today are facing the challenge of building states that effectively promote political stability, curtail political violence, and foster economic prosperity. Late medieval Europe witnessed a wave of attempts to create such states, particularly in the form of the city- states of northern Italy (see, for example, Waley 1988). No micro-analytical examination of this process of state-building has been conducted and its lessons has not been uncovered. This chapter examines the state-building process in the city-state of Genoa, which emerged from obscurity to become one of the wealthiest cities in Europe but whose history was characterized by frequent intracity political violence and relative economic decline. The chapter provides a microanalytical examination of the historical process of state-building in Genoa while explicitly recognizing the need to study the polity as an equilibrium outcome in which actors can choose between predatory and economic behavior. Two perspectives dominate the study of the relationships between political institutions and economic prosperity, neither of which adequately accounts for Genoa’s experience. The first perspective assumes the existence of a predator-ruler, a ruler with a monopoly over coercive power. According to this view, promoting prosperity entails building institutions that enable the ruler to credibly commit to respecting property rights.1 This perspective cannot be applied to the city-state of Genoa, which had no de facto ruler with or without a monopoly over coercive power at the time it was established. The second, neo-Hobbesian, perspective on state-building assumes that the state reflects attempts by economic agents to advance their interests, as “the state produces order,” and provides other public goods that benefit them (Hardin 1997, p.
    [Show full text]
  • 9783030335694.Pdf
    Research for Development Bruno Daniotti Marco Gianinetto Stefano Della Torre Editors Digital Transformation of the Design, Construction and Management Processes of the Built Environment Research for Development Series Editors Emilio Bartezzaghi, Milan, Italy Giampio Bracchi, Milan, Italy Adalberto Del Bo, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy Ferran Sagarra Trias, Department of Urbanism and Regional Planning, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Francesco Stellacci, Supramolecular NanoMaterials and Interfaces Laboratory (SuNMiL), Institute of Materials, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland Enrico Zio, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy; Ecole Centrale Paris, Paris, France The series Research for Development serves as a vehicle for the presentation and dissemination of complex research and multidisciplinary projects. The published work is dedicated to fostering a high degree of innovation and to the sophisticated demonstration of new techniques or methods. The aim of the Research for Development series is to promote well-balanced sustainable growth. This might take the form of measurable social and economic outcomes, in addition to environmental benefits, or improved efficiency in the use of resources; it might also involve an original mix of intervention schemes. Research for Development focuses on the following topics and disciplines: Urban regeneration and infrastructure, Info-mobility, transport, and logistics, Environment and the land, Cultural heritage and landscape, Energy, Innovation in processes and technologies, Applications of chemistry, materials, and nanotech- nologies, Material science and biotechnology solutions, Physics results and related applications and aerospace, Ongoing training and continuing education. Fondazione Politecnico di Milano collaborates as a special co-partner in this series by suggesting themes and evaluating proposals for new volumes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Apogee of the Hispano-Genoese Bond, 1576-1627
    Hispania, LXV/1, num. 219 (2005) THE APOGEE OF THE HISPANO-GENOESE BOND, 1576-1627 por THOMAS KIRK New York University in Florence (Italy) RESUMEN: El periodo entre 1576 y 1627 se caracteriza por ser un momento de intensa coopera­ ción entre España y la república de Genova. Iniciado con una guerra civil en Genova simultánea a una suspensión de pagos en Madrid, concluye con el estallido de un con­ flicto bélico en el norte de Italia y con una nueva bancarrota. Los dramáticos aconteci­ mientos con los que se inicia nuestro periodo de estudio facilitaron la estabilidad inter­ na de la república y sirvieron para fortalecer los vínculos con España. El mecanismo de simbiosis —-dependencia española de la capacidad financiera de Genova y dependencia de la república de la protección de la Corona— no impidió momentos de tensión entre ambos aliados. Aun así, los fuertes intereses comunes, sin mencionar la superioridad militar española y el carácter asimétrico de la relación, explican que dichas tensiones se manifestaran en una dimensión simbólica. Sin embargo, es evidente que esta relación no podía durar siempre, por lo que en el momento culminante de la presencia del capital genovés en España y de dependencia de la protección militar de la corona, se produce una ruptura del equilibrio que madurará algunas décadas después. PALABRAS CLAVE: Genova. Monarquía Hispánica. Sistema financiero. Galeras. Revuelta de 1575. ABSTRACT: The half century between 1576 and 1627 witnessed the most intense relations between the Republic of Genoa and Spain. This period, clearly demarcated at both its beginning and ending points, was ushered in by a brief war in Genoa accompanied by royal insolvency in Spain, and brought to a close by fighting in northern Italy and another quiebra in Spain.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. V
    The History Of Painting In Italy, Vol. V By Luigi Antonio Lanzi HISTORY OF PAINTING IN UPPER ITALY. BOOK III. BOLOGNESE SCHOOL. During the progress of the present work, it has been observed that the fame of the art, in common with that of letters and of arms, has been transferred from place to place; and that wherever it fixed its seat, its influence tended to the perfection of some branch of painting, which by preceding artists had been less studied, or less understood. Towards the close of the sixteenth century, indeed, there seemed not to be left in nature, any kind of beauty, in its outward forms or aspect, that had not been admired and represented by some great master; insomuch that the artist, however ambitious, was compelled, as an imitator of nature, to become, likewise, an imitator of the best masters; while the discovery of new styles depended upon a more or less skilful combination of the old. Thus the sole career that remained open for the display of human genius was that of imitation; as it appeared impossible to design figures more masterly than those of Bonarruoti or Da Vinci, to express them with more grace than Raffaello, with more animated colours than those of Titian, with more lively motions than those of Tintoretto, or to give them a richer drapery and ornaments than Paul Veronese; to present them to the eye at every degree of distance, and in perspective, with more art, more fulness, and more enchanting power than fell to the genius of Coreggio. Accordingly the path of imitation was at that time pursued by every school, though with very little method.
    [Show full text]
  • The Medieval Genoese Consciousness Between Their Government and Their Colonial World
    ANZAI, The Medieval Genoese Consciousness between their Government and their Colonial World The Medieval Genoese Consciousness between their Government and their Colonial World in Romania by the Analysis of a Letter Yoko Kamenaga ANZAI* 1. Introduction Recently the historians of medieval and Renaissance Italy often discuss on the view of “political language” (linguaggi politici) as new tendency of political history, in particular, as a way of analysis of political thought in its broad sense.1 In relation to the Genoese medieval history, Giovanna Petti Balbi described the language of power in the governmental ceremony or celebration.2 And some articles of Christine Shaw belong to this category. For example, she examined the various registers of some Genoese counsels and found the Genoese pragmatism based on the sense of the value of money.3 The subject of this paper treats the relationship between the mother city Genoa and its colonial people in Romania, whose world spreads in the coastal area of the Aegean and of the Black Sea largely. I try to reconsider each action and consciousness of the Genoese government staffs and of the Genoese in their colonial world through the analysis of a letter mainly. The letter has its particular style of phrase. In addition to the background and contents themselve, we would clarify their mentality. 2. The sources The sources that we treat here are L. Balletto ed. Liber Officii Provisionis Romanie.4 Officium Provisionis Romanie is an office of the Genoese Commune in charge of its colonial administration. We can find its existence at least in 1377.5 In relation to the circumstance of * Gakushuin University 1 For example, Andrea Gamberini, Lo stato visconteo: linguaggi politici e dinamiche costituzionali, Milano, 2005.
    [Show full text]