Francesco Datini e Hildebrand Veckinchusen: il commercio internazionale dopo la peste del Trecento

Abstract

In Europe the century following the demographic collapse caused by the Black Death epidemics was characterised by profound economic changes. This article approaches the subject from a particular perspective: the organisation of long-distance trade. It considers mainly two merchant communities that may seem very different in terms of technical and legal culture and commercial practices: the Florentines and the Hanseatic merchants. The article aims to show that actually these two communities adopted surprisingly similar organisational solutions to respond to the challenges and risks of the new economic context as it emerged in the second half of the fourteenth century. In particular, both of them moved towards a 'light' network organisation, based on reputation, trust and reciprocity. For the Florentines this was a major change, since in the first half of the fourteenth century, in a completely different economic context, the large, hierarchically organised company had prevailed.