Ebook: Gold & Spices: The Rise of Commerce in the Middle Ages

"Eminent medievalist Jean Favier introduces and analyzes the political, social, moral, and economic milieux of the late Middle Ages that engendered Europe's transformation from feudalism to capitalism. ... Favier reveals that the ultimate consequence of this risk-taking was not merely the accumulation of wealth by such families as the Medici and the Fuggers, but the transposition of social and aesthetic values upon the populace, leading to the rise of the middle class." --Jacket.

"In _Gold and Spices_ eminent medievalist Jean Favier introduces and analyzes the political, social, moral, and economic milieus of the late Middle Ages that engendered Europe's transformation from feudalism to capitalism. Favier presents striking portraits of the era's important and emerging centers of commerce such as London, Bruges, and Lbeck in the north, Genoa and Venice in the south, and Constantinople in the east and their various impacts at the dawn of Europe's slow march to its modern economic state are detailed. In indicating the extent of these cities' inter-dependence, he charts the many commercial land and sea routes that became the conduits of increased social and economic activity. But the book's central theme is the evolution of the medieval businessman. The merchant-entrepreneur is the hero of _Gold and Spices_ and Favier examines the risks that led to the invention of new concepts, activities, relationships, organizations and communities. Among those risks were new markets, trade routes, forms of credit, means of production, and bold, new methods of speculation. Favier also reveals that the ultimate consequence of such actions was not merely the accumulation of wealth by such families as the Medici and the Fuggers, but the transposition of social and aesthetic values upon the populace, leading to the rise of the middle class. As a descriptive social history _Gold and Spices_ excels at not only recreating the past but connecting it to the present. In several highly informative chapters Favier traces the development of currency, methods of payment, banking, accounting and the often tricky relationship between the homme des affaires and the Prince. He also clearly reveals the diversity of commerce at that time, and the fundamental adaptability needed by those who played a part in re-ordering the conditions of life."

From _Library Journal_:

"Favier (_The World of Chartres_, LJ 4/1/90), a medieval historian, examines Europe's transformation from a feudal economy to a nascent form of capitalism. He details the technological advances in shipbuilding and the formation of large trading companies that made possible the success of merchant entrepreneurs at the center of this story. These developments led to an expansion in intellectual horizons as well. People became less bound to an agricultural economy and were introduced to a range of exotic products, which later helped to stimulate the Age of Discovery. Forms of speculation appeared and reappeared: loans to rulers, leased monopolies, buying on credit, fixed exchange rates, etc. The merchant entrepreneurs became major players in European politics, and the owners of shipping fleets and banks produced descendants who, like the Medici, could become secular rulers or even popes. This work should appeal to interested lay readers as well as to students and scholars. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries." --Robert Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From _Kirkus Reviews_:

"A painstakingly detailed account of the development of capitalist institutions and practices in Europe from the 11th to the 15th centuries by a French historian. Favier's story is in many ways a heroic one. He praises those who in any period are determined to extend the limits of what is imaginable. This would seem to be his view of the great medieval trading families of Europe, who over the course of several centuries transformed themselves from, as he puts it, ``dusty-footed merchants'' to a dominant economic and political force. At the same time, there is little that is heroic here; after all, the driving force for most of the merchants was simply to make the most profit with the least risk. To do so they had to be willing to confront, or manipulate, or coopt, both religious and secular authorities. New ways of doing business had to be imagined; new methods of exchange, accounting, payment, and raising capital had to be devised. If at the end of the 15th century the capitalist class, as, say, Ricardo or Marx had imagined it, had not yet emerged, the tools it would use to rule and define the world were, Favier concludes, firmly in place. Favier's work is most of value in the detail he provides. This is not grand narrative, but a careful historical investigation of precisely how, for instance, the merchants of Genoa kept their accounts or of how the credit systems they devised to protect themselves from uncertain royal currency systems worked. This is not, however, a work for the faint-hearted; a whole chapter on the various types of coins in circulation in Europe, their comparative worth, and how this worth fluctuated is not everyone's idea of fascinating reading. Still, with a bit of forbearance, the details do accumulate into a worthwhile tale of the origins of the modern economic world. Not for everyone, but an impressive historical achievement." -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"In its basic outlines, this story is familiar. The careers and fortunes of these pioneering businessmen have been explored by generations of scholars before and after Karl Marx. The distinctive features of Favier’s synthesis are the broad geographical and topical range of his work, and the richness and diversity of the illustrative material that he cites to document it.

The first three chapters describe in broad outline the evolution of this business class which, by 1500, had created the basic foundations of a capitalist economy. Succeeding chapters discuss specific aspects of this mercantile world, including its technical dimensions (trade routes, navigation, and capital formation), as well as merchants’ relations with the wider world. Favier displays an exceptional talent for describing such topics as currency, credit transactions, and insurance. Though he is aware of regional differences within this European business elite (for example, between Genoese individualism and Venetian dirigisme), he stresses, instead, their common characteristics and goals—above all, their “search for the greatest profit with the least risk” (7). Italians were the pioneers in creating the institutions and techniques of this new economic order, and their innovations were copied, belatedly and sometimes grudgingly, by their counterparts north of the Alps. The author’s treatment of the usury problem and its circumvention (193–199, 205–209), and of the slow and reluctant shift from roman to arabic numerals in account books are models of succinctness and clarity (262–263).

Favier is most effective in describing the internal world of premodern businessmen, and their strategies for gaining profit and avoiding loss. His discussion of the contexts—political, social, and cultural—in which these merchants lived and worked is more uneven. His chapter on “privilege” is an excellent analysis of the efforts by merchants to negotiate advantageous benefits from European princes. But his concluding chapters on the social and cultural role of these early capitalists are perfunctory.

Favier’s account is also static; it does not focus on the ruptures in the European economy during these centuries, such as the Black Death and the rise of the Ottoman Turks. His book is a competent summary of the traditional interpretation of the origins of the European bourgeoisie, but it does not consider the problematic and controversial aspects of that phenomenon in “the rise of the West.”"