The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II: Volume I

647 Pages·1972·30.57 MB·English

by  Fernand Braudel

FERNAND BRAUDEL
THE MEDITERRANEAN AND
THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
IN THE AGE OF PHILIP II
VOLUME ONE
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY
sIAN REYNOLDS
Contents
PrefacetotheEnglishEdition poge13
Prefaceto theSecondEdition 14
Prefaceto theFirstEdition 17
PartOne
THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
1.1HIll'ENlNSULAS: MOUNTAINS, PLATEAUX, AND PLAINS 25
I. MountainsCome First 25
Physicalandhumancharacteristics 25
Dcfininathemountains 30
Mountains,civilizations,andreligions 34
Mountain freedom 38
-, Themountains'resources: an assessment 41
Mountaindwellers in the towns 44
Typicalcases ofmountain dispersion 47
Mountain life: theearliestcivilization ofthe Mediterranean? 51
2. Plateaux, Hills, andFoothills 53
Thehighplains 53
Ahillsidecivilization 55
i"
ThehiDs 58
3. The PJojns 60
Waterproblems:malaria 62
Theimprovement oftheplains 66
TheexampleofLombardy 72
Biglandowners and poorpeasants 75
Shorttermchangein the plains: theVenetianTerraferma 78
Long termchange: thefortunes ofthe Roman Campagna 81
Thestrengthoftheplains:Andalusia 82
,4- TranshumanceandNomadism 85
i
Transhumancc 85
Nomadism,anolderway oflife 87
TranshumanceinCastile 91
Overallcomparisonsandcartography 94
Dromedariesandcamels: theArabandTurkinvasions 95
Nomadisminthe Balkans,Anatolia,and NorthAfrica 98
Cyclesspanning thecenturies 101
D.nIBHl!ARTOF1HBMEDrrERRANEAN:SEASAND COASTS 103
I. 17tePlainso/tMSea 103
Coastalnavigation 103
6 Contents
Theearlydays ofPortuguesediscovery 108
The narrowseas, homeofhistory 108
TheBlackSea, preserveofConstantinople 110
TheArchipelago, Venetian andGenoese 115
BetweenTunisiaand Sicily 116
The MediterraneanChannel 117
TheTyrrhenian Sea 120
TheAdriatic 124
EastandwestofSicily 133
Two maritimeworlds 134
Thedouble lessonoftheTurkishandSpanishEmpires 135
Beyondpolitics 137
2. MainlandCoastlines 138
The peoplesofthesea 138
Weaknessesofthemaritimeregions 140
The bigcities 145
Thechangingfortunes ofmaritimeregions 146
3. The Islands 148
Isolatedworlds 149
Precariouslives 151
Onthepathsofgeneralhistory 154
Emigrationfrom theislands 158
Islands that theseadoesnotsurround 160
ThePeninsulas 162
m. BOUNDARIES:TIlEGREATER MEDITERRANEAN 168
A Mediterraneanofhistoricaldimensions 168.
I. The Sahara, theSecondFaceofthe Mediterranean 171
TheSahara:nearand distant boundaries 171
Povertyandwant 173
Nomadswho travelfar 176
Advanceand infiltration from thesteppe 177
Thegoldandspicecaravans 181
Theoases 185
ThegeographicalareaofIslam 187
2. Europeandthe Mediterranean 188
The isthmusesand theirnorth-southpassages 188
TheRussian isthmus: leadingto theBlackandCaspianSea 191
From theBalkans toDanzig: the Polish isthmus 195
TheGermanisthmus: an overallview 202
The Alps 206
The thirdcharacter: the manyfacesofGermany 208
FromGenoatoAntwerp,aDdfromVemcetoHamburg:theconditions
ofcirculation 211
Emigration andbalance'oftrade 214
TheFrenchisthmus,from Rouen to Marseilles 216
Europeand the Mediterranean223
3. The AtlanticOcean 224
SeveralAtlantics 224
Contents 7
TheAtlanticlearnsfrom the Mediterranean 225
TheAtlanticdestinyin thesixteethcentury 226
A latedecline 230
IV. THEMEDlTBRRANEAN ASAPHYSICALTJNIT: CLIMATEANDHISTORY 231
I. The Unity0/the Climate 231
TheAtlanticand theSahara 232
Ahomoeeneousclimate 234
Drought: thescourgeofthe Mediterranean 238
2. The Seasons 246
Thewinterstandstill 246
Shippingat a halt 248
Winter:seasonofpeaceand plans 253
Thehardshipsofwinter 255
Theaccelerated rhythm ofsummerlife 256
Thesummerepidemics 258
TheMediterraneanclimateand theEast 259
Seasonalrhythms and statistics 260
Determinism and economiclife 265
'3. Has theClimateChangedSince theSixteenth Century? 267
Supple~ntary note 272
v.THEMEDITERRANEAN AS AHUMAN UNIT: COMMUNICATIONS AND cmES 276
I. LandRoutesandSeaRoutes 276
Vitalcommunications 278
Archaicmeans oftransport 282
Didlandroutes increase in importance towards 16001 284
Theintrinsicproblem ofthe overland route 289
Twosetsofevidencefrom Venice 290
Circulationandstatistics: thecase ofSpain 293
Thedoubleproblem in tbe long term 295
2. Shipping:·Tonnages andChanging Circumstances 295
Bigshipsand littleships in thefifteenth century ·299
Thefirst victoriesofthesmallships 300
In theAtlantic in thesixteenthcentury 301
In the Mediterranean 306
< 3. Urban Functions 312
Townsand Roads 312
A meeting placefor different transportroutes 316
From roads to banking , 318
Urbancycleand decline 322
A very incompletetypology 323
4. Towns, Witnesses to the Century 324
The rise in population 326
Hardships old and new: Famine and the wheat problem 328
Hardshipsoldand new: epidemics 332
The indispensableimmigrant 334
8 Contents
Urban politicalcrises 338
The privileged bankingtowns 341
Royaland imperialcities 344
Infavour ofcapitals 351
From permanencetochange 352
Part Two
COLLECTIVE DESTINIES AND GENERAL TRENDS
I. ECONOMIES:THB MEASUREOPTHECENTURY 355 '
I. Distance, the First Enemy 355
Forletter-writers: the time lost incomingand going 355
Thedimensionsofthesea: somerecordcrossings 358
Averagespeeds 360
Letters: a special case 363
News, a luxurycommodity 365
Present-daycomparisons 370
Empiresand distance 371
The threemissions ofClaudedu Bourg(1576and 1577) 374
Distanceand the economy 375
Fairs, thesupplementary networkofeconomiclife 379
Localeconomies 382
Thequadrilateral: Genoa, Milan, Venice, and Florence 387
2. HowMany People? 394
A worldof60or 70million people 394
Mediterranean waste lands 398
A population increaseof100percent1 402
Levelsand indices 403
Reservations and conclusions 410
Confirmationsandsuggestions 412
Somecertainties 413
Anotherindicator: migration 415
3. Is It Possible to Constructa Model0/the Mediterranean Economy? 418
Agriculture. the major industry 420
An industrial balancesheet 427
The putting-out or 'Verlag'systemand the rise ofurban industry 430
Thesystem prospered 432
An itinerant labourforce 433
Gel1eraland local trends 434
The volumeofcommercialtransactions 438
Thesignificanceand limitationsoflongdistancetrade 441
Capitalistconcentrations 444
"thetotaltonnage ofMediterraneanshipping 445
Overlandtransport 448
The State: theprincipalentrepreneurofthecentury 449
Preciousmetalsand the monetaryeconomy 451
Wasonefifth ofthe populationingreatpoverty? 453
A provisionalclassification 457
Food,a poorguide: officiallyrationswerealwaysadequate 459
Canourcalculations bechecked? 460
~n~u 9
D.ECONOMIES: PRECIOUSMETALS, MONEY, AND PlUCF8 462
I. The Mediterranean andtheGoldoftheSudan 463
Theflow ofpreciousmetals towards theeast 463
Sudanesegold: earlyhistory 466
ThePortuguese inGuinea: goldcontinuestoarrivein the
Mediterranean 469
Thegold tradeand the generaleconomicsituation 472
SudanesegoldinNorthAfrica 474
oZ.AmericanSilver 476
Americanand Spanishtreasure 476
American treasure takesthe road toAntwerp 480
TheFrench detour 484
The great route from Barcelona to Genoa and the second cycle of
American treasure 487
The Mediterranean invaded bySpanishcoins 493
Italy, thevictimof'Iamonedalarga' 496
TheageoftheGenoese 500
ThePiacenzafairs 504
Thereign ofpaper 508
FromthelaststatebankruptcyunderPhilipIItothefirstunderPhilip
III 510
3. The RiseinPr/ce$ 516
Contemporarycomplaints 519
Was American treasureresponsible? 521
Someargumentsfor andagainstAmericanresponsibility 522
Wages 524
Incomefrom land 525
Banksand inftation 528
The'industrialists' 532
Statesand the pricerise 532
ThedwindlingofAmerican treasure 536
Devaluedcurrencyandfalsecurrency 537
Threeagesofmetal 541
m. ECONOMIES:TRADEAND TRANSPORT 543
I. The Pepper Trade 543
. Mediterraneanrevenge: the prosperityoftheRedSeaafier1550 545
Routes taken bythe Levant trade 549
Therevivalofthe Portuguese peppertrade 554
Portuguesepepper:dealsand projects 556
Portuguesepepperisoffered to Venice 558
The Welserand Fugger'contract: 1586-1591 560
Thesurvival ofthe Levantinespiceroutes 562
Possibleexplanations 568
2. EquilibriumandCrisi$intheMediterranean Grain Trade 570
Thecereals 570
Somerules ofthegrain trade 571
Thegrain tradeand theshippingroutes 576
10 Contents
Portsandcountriesthatexportedgrain ~79
Easterngrain S83
Equilibrium,crisis,and vicissitudesinthegraintrade 584
Thefirst crisis: northerngrainat Lisbon and Seville 585
TheTurkishwheat boom: 1548-1564 591
Eatinghome-producedbread:Italy'ssituationbetween IS64 and1590 594
Thelastcrisis:imports fromthenorth after 1500 599
Sicily: stillthegrainstoreofthe Mediterranean 602
On graincrises 604
3. Trade andTransport: The Sailing Shipsofthe Atlantic 606
I. Before 1550: thefirst arrivals 606
Basque,Biscayan,andevenGalicianships 6<fT
ThePortugu~e 608
NormansandBretons 609
Flemishships 612
Thefirst Englishsailingships 612
Theperiod ofprosperity(1511-1534)613
II.From 1550to 1573: the Mediterranean left to Mediterranean ships 615
Thereturn oftheEnglishin 1572:...1573 621
Anglo-Turkishnegotiations: 1578-1583 625
ThesuccessofEnglishshipping 626
Thesituationat theendofthecentury 628
Thearrival oftheHansards and theDutch 629
Fromgrain to spi~:TheDutchconquerthe Mediterranean 630
Howthe Dutchtook Sevilleafter 1570withoutfiring a shot 636
NewChristiansinthe Mediterranean 640 .
Abbreviations 642
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
A full bibliography and index will appear in Volume II. Where possible refer
encehas beenmade to Englisheditionsofbooksmentionedinthenotes.
List of Illustrations '
1. Plan ofVenice(XVIth Century)Photo Mas, Barcelona
2.ConstantinoplePhoto B. N. Paris
3. Heightand depth aboveand belowsea-level(Figure 1)
4. AtlanticsailingvesselPhoto B. N. Paris
5. VenetiangalleonPhoto O. Bohm, Venice
6. Merchant's round shipPhoto O. Bohm, Venice
7. TheEnglishtakeCadiz, 1596Photo B. N. Paris
8.TheHabour, Barcelona
9.TheVeniceArsenal (1500)
10.Sailingships largeandsmallPhoto B. N. Paris
.
11. TheAlps betweenFranceand Piedmont Photo B. N. Paris
List of Figures
1.Height and depth aboveand belowsealevel (see plate 3)
2.Thefolds ofthe Mediterranean 27
3.Thegreatcanalsofthe Lombardy plain 73
4.Theregularizationcanalssafeguarded halfoftheVenetianlagoons 79
5. Winterandsummerpastureofsheep inHaute-Provence 90
6. Castiliantranshumance 93
7. Transhumancein modem times 98
8. The wrecks ofboats sailing to Venicefrom 1592to 1609 112
9. Capturedvesselsduringthe same period 113
10. Sicilyand Tunisiacut the Mediterranean in two 114
]I. Corfu, lyingopposite Otranto,commandsthe entranceto the Adriatic 124
12.The Mediterraneanand the rest ofthe world 169
13. Theimplantation ofpalmgrovesfrom the Indus tothe Atlantic 172
]4.Saharan caravans,fifteenth andsixteenthcenturies 183
,15.Theroads oftheGermanisthmus 204
16.TheAlpinebarrier 205
17. Lyonsandthespicetrade 2]8
18. Marseillesand theinternalFrenchmarket, 1543 221
19. The'true' Mediterranean,from the olivetreeto thegreat palmgroves 232
20. A voyagetoSpain thatended up at Tabarka,January, 1597 250
21. Effects ofthe mistral, 19thApril, 1569and days following 252
22. SeasonalvariationofthevolumeofbusinessattheFondacodeiTedeschi
at Venice 266
23. The road networkoftheIberian peninsulain 1546 279
24. Roads overthe TuscanApennines 280
12 ListofFigures
25.TheGreatBazaaratConstantinople 313
26.TheheartofVenice 314
27. Thepopulation ofthetownsofCastile 324
28,29, and 30.Newstravellingto Venice 366-367
31,32. Venice: thevoyagesofthegalereda mercato 392
33. Thepopulation oftheVenetianmainlandin 1548 391
34. PopulationofCastilein 1541 and in1591' 406
35.Incresein population, 1541-1591, 1593 407
36. Thepopulation ofSicily, 1501-1716 409
37. Baptismsat Florence, 1551-1600 413
38. TheexchangerateoftheVenetiansequin 472
39. Goldversussilver 473
40.Thetwo agesofAmericansilver 477
41. Spanish 'political'silverinEurope, 1580-1626 479
42. Wheatpricesinthe MediterraneanandEurope 516
43. Pricesat Bursa, 1489-1633 518
44. Rising pricesin Paris 520
45. Thepriceriseisfelt atStrasbourgbeforeValencia 523
46. Pricesand real wagesat Valencia 525
47. Real pricesofcerealsat Strasbourg, Lwowand Valencia 526
48. Devaluationofmoneysofaccount 528
49. TheSiciliancaricatoriin 1532 580
50. Venice: importedgrainandmainlandgrain 596
51. Sicilianexports 598
52. Sicilyafter 1593 605
53. AregisterofmarineinsuranceatGenoa 618-620
54.Theincreasingnumberofnorthern boatsat Leghorn,1573-93 632-633
Facsimileoftheearpetaofa letterfrom PhilipII'sambassadorinLi$bon 461'·
Preface to the English Edition
This English version of The Mediterranean corresponds to the second
Frencheditionof1966.When,in1964,severalEnglish-languagepublishers
suggestedtomethepossibilityofa translation,theoriginalFrenchedition
had been out ofprint for twelve or thirteen years and I would not have
wanted to re-issue the book without thoroughly revising it, in order to
incorporate in the new edition the results of recent studies and of the
extensive research carried out by my pupils and myselfsince 1949. But I
donotthinkIshouldeverhavefoundthecouragetoundertakethismajor
revision hadI not been faced with the prospect ofa translation. I did not
wish.tooffertheEnglish-speakingpublic a bookwhich hadalready hada
somewhat tempestuouscareer. With the mass ofbooksflooding from the
pressestoday, works on history age more quickly than they used to.
, The Mediterranean speaks with many voices; it is a sum ofindividual
histories. If these histories assume in the course of research different
values, different meanings, their sum must perforce change too. English
speakinghistorianswillseethatI havetakennoteoftheirwork, andthatI
have given more space than I did in 1949 to the voyages to the Mediter
ranean of the ships of the northern countries, their merchants and their
merchandise., through the narrow gateway of Gibraltar. I have also
devoted more attention to what is a major historiographical problem, a
zOneofformidableuncertainty:theOttomanempire.Aftertheconquestof
the Balkansandespeciallyafter thatofthesoutherncoastofthe Mediter
ranean, from Syria to Algiers and almost to Gibraltar, that empire
covereda good halfofthe Mediterranean region; it wasanAnti-Christen
dom, balancing the weight of the west. We historians of the west are in
exactly the same position as the contemporaries of Philip II, of Gian
Andrea DoriaorDon John ofAustria: wecan glimpse theTurkish world
from the outside only. The reports sent by ambassadors and intelligence
. agents to Christian princes tell ussomethingoftheworkings ofthatgreat
, body, buthardly ever anything ofits motives. The secret, or some ofthe
secr-ets, lie hidden in the vast archives in Istanbul. Access to them is
. difficult and it is only now that we are seeing some of the results of in
vestigation of these sourCes, in works which are naturally all breaking
newground. I havedonemy best to takeaccountoftheserecentstudies
with the greaterenergy since in manycases (and I am very sensible ofthe
honour)theareaoftheproblemasdefinedin mybookandthehypotheses
(theywerenomore)whichIadvancedinthefirsteditionhadservedas the
original frame ofreference for the research. As I write these lines, I have
on my desk. the admirable study by M. A. Cook, Population pressure in