The Economy of Renaissance Florence PDF
Preview The Economy of Renaissance Florence
The Economy of Re nais sance Florence This page intentionally left blank The Economy of Re nais sance Florence richard a. goldthwaite The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore ©2009 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2009 Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Mary land 21218- 4363 www .press .jhu .edu Library of Congress Cata loging- in- Publication Data Goldthwaite, Richard A. The economy of Re nais sance Florence / Richard A. Goldthwaite. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 8018- 8982- 0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN- 10: 0- 8018- 8982- 0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Florence (Italy)—Economic conditions. 2. Renaissance—Italy—Florence. I. Title. HC308.F6G64 2008 330.945'51105—dc22 2007052602 A cata log record for this book is available from the British Library. Title page illustration: This fl orin, in the collection of the Museo Nazionale del Bargello at Florence (Dep. no. 3206, on deposit from the Museo Archeologico), is one of the second series, minted sometime between 1252 and 1303. The obverse bears the lily, the symbol of the city, with the inscription + fl or entia; the reverse bears the image of Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of the city, with the inscription s ioha nnes • b •. The coin has a diameter of 20.8 mm (about two-thirds that of the illustration) and contains 3.48 grams of gold. Florins of the fi rst series are very rare, none being in public collections; they differ in the halo of the saint, which is undecorated, whereas here the halo is beaded along the border. Florins in these early series do not bear the coat-of-arms of the men who were Masters of the Mint at the time the coin was issued and therefore cannot be precisely dated. Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information, please contact Special Sales at 410- 516- 6936 or [email protected]. The Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent p ost-c onsumer waste, whenever possible. All of our book papers are acid- free, and our jackets and covers are printed on paper with recycled content. contents 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 Per for mance 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 Interfi rm Relations 104 The Center 114 Florence and Regional Trade 114 Florence as International Emporium 120 2 The Shifting Geography of Commerce 126 Northwestern Eu rope 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 Eu rope 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 Per for mance 267 The Wool Industry 267 The Silk Industry 282 Linen Drapers 296 Business Or ga ni za tion 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, Shop keep ers, Workers 341 The Work Force 342 Guilds 342 Artisans 349 Workers on the Margins of the Market 362 Contents vii Per for mance of the Artisan Sector 377 Demand- Driven Growth 377 Pa ram e ters 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 Perf orm ance 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 Profi le 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 viii Contents Per for mance 594 The Economy in the Short Run 594 A Final Judgment 601 Appendix: Changing Values of the Florin 609 Index 615 tables, figures, and maps tables 4.1. The wool industry, 1373–1619: Production as investment in the local economy 278 4.2. The silk industry, 1436–1629: Production as investment in the local economy 294 4.3. The wool and silk industries, 1373–1629: Production as investment in the local economy 337 4.4. Percentage breakdown of production costs in the wool and silk industries, fi fteenth and sixteenth centuries 339 5.1. Florentine guilds and their membership 345 7.1. Population of Tuscan towns ca. 1300 and in the fi rst half of the sixteenth century 521 7.2. Distribution of landownership, 1427 and 1480 542 7.3. Wealth distribution by house hold in Florence in 1427 and in the United States in 1995 562 7.4. Classes of wealth as reported in the 1427 catasto 563 7.5. Average wealth of the top occupational categories as reported in the 1427 catasto 566 7.6. Annual salaries of selected workers in the 1580s 577 A.1. Index of the real value of the current fl orin of account, 1300–1600 613 figures 3.1. The bill of exchange 212 5.1. The real value of an unskilled construction worker’s daily wage, 1350–1600 365
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