World cities before globalisation The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 by Raf Verbruggen Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctoral thesis of Loughborough University 3 June 2011 © by Raf Verbruggen 2011 The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 Abstract This dissertation is a quantitative study of the spatial business strategies of 130 late medieval and 16 th -century European commercial and banking firms, the business networks of which have been put together for a structural analysis of the European city network between ca. 1300 and ca. 1600. Concretely this investigation has been carried out through the application of an interlocking network model – specifically developed for the study of the present-day global city network produced by the office networks of business service firms – to this historical case study, in order to challenge predominantly hierarchical conceptualisations of city networks which are often influenced by central place theory. After a methodological section, in which solutions are designed for reconciling the geographical model with the particularities of historical research, a first part of the analysis focuses on agency within the network, identifying and reconstructing the multiple spatial strategies used by the different agents. In a second part the overall structure and dynamics in the network are investigated, revealing the operation of Christaller’s traffic principle, as well as a cyclical variation in emphasis on continental and maritime nodes within the European city network. More generally, this study demonstrates that the functioning of dynamic transnational networks based upon complementarity and cooperation rather than competition is not limited to our contemporary globalised world, but can also be found in particular historical societies. Keywords: city networks, world cities, long-distance trade, merchant-bankers, Europe, late Middle Ages, early modern period 3 The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 Preface Being a historian as well as a geographer, with this PhD project I was provided with a wonderful opportunity to combine insights from both scientific disciplines in a truly interdisciplinary study. During the past four years I have learned a lot, although I will probably never become a specialist in all the different facets of such a wide ranging research topic as the ‘European city network between A.D. 1300 and 1600’. Although (or perhaps because) Loughborough is not really what can be called a world city, I found here a very friendly and supportive environment for working and living. Above all, I am very much indebted here to my supervisors Peter Taylor and Michael Hoyler not only for the expertise they offered me, but also for the veritable enthusiasm and interest they never ceased to show for my project, as well as for the freedom they gave me to develop my own course. More generally, the Loughborough Geography Department has always been a very welcoming place to me, filled with nice people many of whom have become friends. Cities are always fascinating places to investigate and discover, and attendance at various conferences and workshops has allowed me to visit a number of contemporary and historical world cities in the United Kingdom and beyond, as well as to engage in interesting discussions with fellow researchers. The organisation of a student conference on ‘World cities and history’ – together with Julia Gro βpietsch – was an enriching experience. As a visiting academic, first at the University of Ghent and later in Antwerp, I established valuable connections with geographers and historians alike. At Ghent, I owe a thank you to Ben Derudder, Frank Witlox, and everyone else at the Social and Economic Geography research unit, as well as to Eric Vanhaute, Michael Limberger and Bart Lambert in the history department. At Antwerp, I would like to thank Bruno Blondé, Peter Stabel, and especially Jeroen Puttevils, as well as other members of the Centre for Urban History. Finally, I received valuable feedback from my examiners Robert Kloosterman (University of Amsterdam) and Heike Jöns (Loughborough University). Being an international student obviously involves much more than ‘just’ the research experience. Living in a different country has been a life-changing experience which very much broadened my horizons. The particular microcosm of Loughborough was perhaps and at least in some aspects not entirely different from the cosmopolitan atmosphere in which the late medieval and 16 th -century businessmen – who were the principal agents producing the network I have been studying in this dissertation – operated. Many thanks to all the great new 4 The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 friends I have made in Loughborough and beyond during the last four years, as well as to the ‘old’ friends at home in Belgium. Most importantly, I owe a lot to my family and especially my parents who supported me in everything I did from the beginning to the end, and who provided me with the tranquil environment needed to bring this project to a good end during the last months of writing up. Raf Verbruggen, 13 October 2010 5 The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 Contents Abstract 3 Preface 4 Contents 6 List of tables 9 List of figures 12 Ch. 1. Introduction 13 1.1. World cities before globalisation? 13 1.2. The external relations of towns and cities 16 1.2.1. The geography of urban external relations 16 1.2.2. Historical research on urbanisation patterns, urban hierarchies and networks 18 1.3. The interlocking network model 22 1.4. The interlocking city network in Europe, A.D. 1300-1600 23 1.5. Structure of the dissertation 32 Ch. 2. Measuring the network: Quantification, data collection, and the organisation of the space of flows 34 2.1. Measurement of the interlocking city network 35 2.1.1. The firms 35 Selection criteria for firms 39 Selection of firms and representativity 42 2.1.2. The cities 48 2.1.3. The business value of a city to a firm – Organisation of the central and infrastructural layers of the space of flows 51 The organisation of business enterprise in late medieval and 16 th -century Europe 52 Quantification of the business values 63 Flows and their quantification 67 The organisation of transport and communication 75 Additional indications for scoring business values 78 General scoring guidelines 82 2.2. Data collection and sources 85 6 The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 2.3. Problems of quantification 90 2.3.1. Five-point, four-point, and two-point scoring scales 94 Biases in the different scoring systems 97 2.4. Conclusion 103 Ch. 3. From firms to nations: Agency in the European city network, 1300 – 1600 105 3.1. Principal components analysis as a tool for exploratory research 106 3.2. The twelve-component solution: Merchant nations as building materials 108 3.2.1. The primary structure in the data 108 3.2.2. The merchant nations 121 3.3. The spatial strategies of the merchant nations 126 3.3.1. The Mediterranean nations 134 Italians 134 Venetians 136 Genoese 149 Florentines 163 Catalans 173 3.3.2. The German Hanse 178 3.3.3. Southern German merchants 190 3.3.4. The Atlantic nations 199 Castilians 200 Portuguese 204 Flemish and Dutch 207 English 213 3.4. The role of nations reconsidered 217 3.5. Conclusion 222 Ch. 4. From firms to cities: Structure and dynamics of the European city network, 1300 – 1600 224 4.1. The European city network reassembled 224 4.1.1. The 14 th century 226 4.1.2. The 15 th century 230 4.1.3. The 16 th century 234 4.1.4. Spatial assumptions behind city-ness 237 4.2. Dynamics in the European city network, 1300 – 1600 239 7 The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 4.2.1. The alternation of continental and maritime networks 242 4.2.2. Back to principal components analysis: From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 244 4.3. Connectivity versus population: A case study for the 14 th century 251 Final conclusion 261 Bibliography 271 Literature and printed sources 271 Websites 301 Appendix I: Example of a data fiche: The Botti, ca. 1550 – 1568 302 Appendix II: Data fiches (see CD-Rom) CD Appendix III: Business value matrix (see CD-Rom) CD 8 The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600 List of tables Table 2.1. List of firms included in the business value matrix 1300-1600 43 Table 2.2. 9-point scoring system for business values 64 Table 2.3. 9-point scoring system for business values: scores for flows of correspondence 72 Table 2.4. 9-point scoring system for business values: scores for additional indications 81 Table 2.5. Extract from the 15 th -century business value matrix (9-point scale) 84 Table 2.6. 9-point scoring system for business values: scores for place names mentioned in account books 87 Table 2.7. Correlation between the different scoring scales 95 Table 2.8. 5-point scoring system for business values 95 Table 2.9. 4-point scoring system for business values 96 Table 2.10. 2-point scoring system for business values 96 Table 2.11. Top 10 firms ranked by total business value across all places (595) for the different scoring systems (14 th century) 99 Table 2.12. Low negative and high positive residuals in a linear regression analysis between column totals of the nine-point scale (B 9) and four-point scale (B 4) business value matrices (14 th -16 th centuries) 101 Table 2.13. Top 10 firms per century ranked by total business value across places having at least five percent of the highest total business value in their respective century-specific business value matrix (nine- point scale scoring system has been used) 103 Table 3.1.