Merchant Culture Research Articles

Book Review: Art and Patronage in the Medieval Mediterranean. Merchant Culture in the Region of Amalfi

Book Review: Art and Patronage in the Medieval Mediterranean. Merchant Culture in the Region of Amalfi

Art Patronage in the Medieval Mediterranean. Merchant Culture in the Region of Amalfi

Art Patronage in the Medieval Mediterranean. Merchant Culture in the Region of Amalfi

Domestic service and female domestic servants: A port-city comparison of Bremen and Liverpool, 1850–1914

The author analyzes the development of domestic service in Bremen and Liverpool as two examples of major commercial ports in the 19th century characterized by significant merchant wealth and casual, dock-related employment. The migration pattern and age structure of domestic servants are examined and key aspects of their employment history are explored in terms of residential location, length of service, and social background of their employers. Census data are used for both port cities (drawing, in particular on the relational database currently being constructed for the Liverpool Mercantile Project), together with the Bremen civil registers for marriages and deaths, and qualitative material, such as diaries and autobiographies from members of the merchant class. By developing an explicitly comparative analysis within the framework of an established typology the article provides a basis for assessing the extent to which the nature of domestic service in the two port cities, as well as the recruitment and retention of domestic servants, was determined by similarities in the growth of merchant wealth and culture or by distinct regional or national characteristics in the underlying pattern of urban migration.

Risky Business: Theological and Canonical Thought on Insurance from the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Century

�� More than forty years ago Lucien Febvre, in a brief but rich article, claimed that a proper history of insurance should not only cope with economy but also with conceptions of religion and nature. Discussing the problem within the wider framework of “besoin de securite,” a need for security that characterizes every society, he suggests a fascinating parallel between material safety (insurance) and spiritual safety (salvation). Febvre claims that the development within western European society of this need for security into a juridical institute, such as insurance, has to be accompanied by a parallel “transfert de ciel a terre”; it was necessary that, during the Middle Ages, an idea of nature in which God controls all future events be replaced by new conceptions in which mankind could play a relevant role in governing natural events. The French historian, echoing Weberian theories, sees in the emerging spirit of capitalism the main cause of this shift. In his view, money is the medium by which Western society seeks to protect itself from the constant threats of an otherwise unpredictable nature. Security can be bought and sold. 1 Ten years later Jacques Le Goff offered another fundamental contribution to the understanding of the interaction among religion, economy, and the conception of nature in the Middle Ages. The development, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, of a new idea of Time strictly follows the “transfert de ciel a terre” paradigm suggested by Febvre. From an attitude of superstition and passive submission to God’s will, Western society moves to the new ideology of homo faber, to a different conception of the relationship between mankind and nature. In Le Goff ’s view this shift is closely connected to the culture of merchants, a culture that, due to the stimulus of the circulation of money, is dominated by quantification: Time is rationalized because it can be bought and sold. Although the French his

The Symbolic Hall: Historical Context and Merchant Culture in the Early Modern City

The purpose of the open or large hall in the larger town house of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries is here reassessed. The historical context provided by inventories, wills and other documents for houses in London, Bristol and elsewhere is used to suggest that the value of the hall was increasingly a symbolic one, that this was already so by the late fifteenth century, and that the hall remained a potent symbol of individual and civic status and identity until the late seventeenth century.

The Symbolic Hall: Historical Context and Merchant Culture in the Early Modern City

The purpose of the open or large hall in the larger town house of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries is here reassessed. The historical context provided by inventories, wills and other documents for houses in London, Bristol and elsewhere is used to suggest that the value of the hall was increasingly a symbolic one, that this was already so by the late fifteenth century, and that the hall remained a potent symbol of individual and civic status and identity until the late seventeenth century.

“Merchant Culture” in Germany and America in the Late-Eighteenth Century

“Merchant Culture” in Germany and America in the Late-Eighteenth Century

A Fictional-True Self: Margery Kempe and the Social Reality of the Merchant Elite of King’s Lynn

The social reality of the merchant community of King’s Lynn played an integral role in the formation of Margery Kempe’s self-image throughout her life. In her young-formative years, Lynn’s merchant elite imparted personal, commercial, ethical, and religious values. As the daughter of John Brunham, one of the most influential members of Lynn’s elite, the merchant community also provided Margery with status, security, comfort, and self-worth. Even in her later years as Margery formulated her holy self-image as she questioned, and eventually rejected, the role imposed on her by Lynn’s merchant culture as the daughter of Brunham and wife of John Kempe, she continued to identify herself through that culture. When asked by the mayor of Leicester in 1416 or 1417 to identify herself, Margery confidently replied, “Sir, I am of Lynn of Norfolk, a good man’s daughter of the same Lynn, who had been mayor five time of that worshipful borough and alderman also many years, and I have a good man, also a burgess of the said town, Lynn, as my husband.”

A Fictional-True Self: Margery Kempe and the Social Reality of the Merchant Elite of King’s Lynn

The social reality of the merchant community of King’s Lynn played an integral role in the formation of Margery Kempe’s self-image throughout her life. In her young-formative years, Lynn’s merchant elite imparted personal, commercial, ethical, and religious values. As the daughter of John Brunham, one of the most influential members of Lynn’s elite, the merchant community also provided Margery with status, security, comfort, and self-worth. Even in her later years as Margery formulated her holy self-image as she questioned, and eventually rejected, the role imposed on her by Lynn’s merchant culture as the daughter of Brunham and wife of John Kempe, she continued to identify herself through that culture. When asked by the mayor of Leicester in 1416 or 1417 to identify herself, Margery confidently replied, “Sir, I am of Lynn of Norfolk, a good man’s daughter of the same Lynn, who had been mayor five time of that worshipful borough and alderman also many years, and I have a good man, also a burgess of the said town, Lynn, as my husband.”

John E. Dotson, ed. and trans. Merchant Culture in Fourteenth-Century Venice: The Zibaldone da Canal. (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 98.) Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1994. 2 pls. + xii + 228 pp. $25.

John E. Dotson, ed. and trans. Merchant Culture in Fourteenth-Century Venice: The Zibaldone da Canal. (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 98.) Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1994. 2 pls. + xii + 228 pp. $25. - Volume 49 Issue 3

Merchant culture in fourteenth-century Venice: the Zibaldone da Canal (review)

Merchant culture in fourteenth-century Venice: the Zibaldone da Canal (review)

Archaeology and the Etruscan countryside

The Etruscan city states flourished in westcentral Italy from the late 8th century BC until their conquest and absorption by the emergent state ofRome in the 4th century BC. In 1985 Italy celebrated the century or so of work on its oldest civilization with a series of major exhibitions under the slogan, ‘Buongiorno Etruschi’ (‘Good morning, Etruscansi!’). There were eight major exhibitions in Tuscany displaying over 5000 objects from all the major collections in the region, designed to cover most aspects of Etruscan culture – settlement systems, domestic and religious architecture, religion, everyday life, crafts, and artistic achievement. As the sponsors FIAT wrote in their preface to the splendid catalogues produced for the project (e.g. Camporeale 1985; Carandini 1985; Cristofani 1985; Stopponi 1985), the intention of this massive undertaking was to convey to the Italian public that the Etruscans were not just a dead civilization known above all for the way of death of its élite, but ‘a lively culture of ordinary people, merchants, and craftsmen’.

Circles of Fantasy: Convention in the Plays of Chikamatsu

The vibrant merchant culture of Tokugawa Japan gave rise to many new forms of art, none more fascinating than the puppet theater, Jōruri, created chiefly by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the foremost playwright of popular Japanese drama. In this analysis of Chikamatsu's artistry, Dr. Gerstle focuses on features hitherto neglected by Western scholars the musical structure of Jōruri, integral to the form, mood, and movement of the drama. For extensive translations from the various types of Chikamatsu's dramas, Gerstle supplies the musical notations, which illuminate the sophisticated conventions of this unique and timeless artistic form. Chikamatsu's art, combining puppets, text, samisen music, and chanting/narration, encompasses three major types of drama--history, contemporary-life, and love-suicide plays--each with distinct structural features. Gerstle shows how the music of Jōruri, a mixture of the samisen and chanting/narration, supplements the texts and expresses a dramatized action or emotion through complex changes in pitch, tempo, and style of delivery. Richly illustrated with woodblock prints, this is a fascinating study, which will be welcomed by scholars of Japanese culture, literature, and musicology.

Capitalism and Politics in Russia: A Social History of the Moscow Merchants, 1855-1905

This monograph - based largely on memoirs, diaries, archival documents and other primary sources - represents a comprehensive social history of the Moscow merchants in the period between 1855 and 1905. The author first examines the essential aspects of traditional merchant culture in the early nineteenth century. He then discusses the emergence of 'capitalist' manufacturers and traders, a group who implemented modern business techniques in the 1840s without however, adopting the political liberalism of the western bourgeoisie. Committed to economic modernisation as a means of redressing Russia's humiliation in the Crimean War, these merchants cooperated with sympathetic intellectuals in railroad management, banking, journalism and the struggle to gain tariff protection. The study concludes with an analysis of the 'bourgeois' class consciousness that resulted from the Moscow commercial-industrial leaders' conflicts with both the tsarist government and the militant labour movement during the Revolution of 1905. Owen contributes to discussions about the distinctive features of Russian social and economic development in the final years of the Russian Empire.

The Development of Mathematical Knowledge in Two West African Societies

POSNER, JILL K. The Development of Mathematical Knowledge in Two West African Societies. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 200-208. The research investigated the development of mathematical concepts among children from 2 groups in West Africa, an agricultural tribe (Baoule) and a merchant society (Dioula). Baoule and Dioula children at 3 age levels participated: preschoolers, 5-6 years (study 1); 7-8-year-olds with 1 year of school (study 2); and schooled and unschooled 9-10-year-olds (studies 1 and 2). Experimental tasks covered several systems of mathematical thought from the perception of relative quantity and the identification of static equivalence (study 1) to the ability to solve practical addition problems (study 2). Results provide evidence that the ability to judge numerosity rapidly may be a universal capacity. All subjects by middle childhood performed equally well on this task. On the latter two tasks, which required the activation of other than perceptual strategies, schooling improved performance significantly among Baoule subjects while there were no reliable differences between schooled and unschooled Dioulas. The advancement of quantitative understanding appears to be dependent on certain kinds of experiences which both schooling and a merchant culture afford.

Number Conservation in Two West African Societies

The effects of cultural and educational variables on the development of number conservation were examined among African children from two cultural milieux (agricultural and merchant). A task which evaluated counting skill was also administered to determine if a relationship exists between counting facility and conservation. Schooled Baoule (agricultural) children performed better than unschooled children on conservation. However, a matched group of unschooled Dioula (merchant) subjects performed as well as their schooled peers. No differences were found between school children from either group. Counting ability appeared to be associated with conservation performance. Results are consonant with the "functional learning systems" approach to cognitive processing. Acquisition of a mature number concept is dependent on particular activities-those which school and a merchant culture provide-albeit differently.

Merchant Culture and Chinese Ethnicity in the Philippines

Merchant Culture and Chinese Ethnicity in the Philippines