Commercial Agreements and Social Dynamics in Medieval Genoa [Hardcover]

An empirical study of medieval long-distance trade agreements and the surrounding social dynamics, drawing on 20,000 notarial records.Making use of 20,000 notarial records, this book traces commercial partnerships in Genoa from 1150 to 1435. Combining a detailed historical reading with network modeling to analyze the change in the long-distance trade relationships, Quentin Van Doosselaere argues that the economic transformation to the Renaissance was driven by changes in trading patterns and partners social selections.Making use of 20,000 notarial records, this book traces commercial partnerships in Genoa from 1150 to 1435. Combining a detailed historical reading with network modeling to analyze the change in the long-distance trade relationships, Quentin Van Doosselaere argues that the economic transformation to the Renaissance was driven by changes in trading patterns and partners social selections.Commercial Agreements and Social Dynamics in Medieval Genoa is an empirical study of medieval long-distance trade agreements and the surrounding social dynamics that transformed the feudal organization of men-of-arms into the world of Renaissance merchants. Making use of 20,000 notarial records, the book traces the commercial partnerships of thousands of people in Genoa from 1150 to 1435 and reports social activity, on a scale that is unprecedented for such an early period of history anywhere. In combining a detailed historical reading with network modeling to analyze the change in the long-distance trade relationships, Quentin Van Doosselaere challenges the prevailing western centric view of development by demonstrating that the history of the three main medieval economic frameworks that brought about the European capitalism  equity, credit, and insurance  was not driven by strategic merchants economic optimizations but rather by a change in partners selections that reflected the dynamic of the social structure as a whole.List of figures; List of tables; Abbrevil�