Merchants, long of interest to scholars, have attracted renewed attention as historians seek to better understand that moment when the world became noticeably global, particularly in economic terms. The collection of essays reviewed here is an admirable addition to this conversation. Its stated purpose is to shed light on the assertion that “expatriated merchants played a crucial role in the integration of different commercial regions and spaces” (1). The essays chosen largely address merchants from the maritime republic of Genoa, with more limited discussion of those from Florence and Milan during the “first globalisation” (8) of early modernity.
Given the vastness of the topic, it would have been easy to range far afield across the European Continent. Instead, the editors wisely chose to use the mercantile relations of Italians doing business in areas controlled by the Spanish Crown, including such cities as Madrid, Lisbon, and Cadiz. This decision allowed for a detailed picture of how merchants from Genoa, Milan, and Florence developed and maintained their commercial networks with the Spanish realm. It also allowed for important discussions about how these merchants maintained their identity, in one instance through the establishment of an Italian church built to represent “all Italians” (134) in eighteenth-century Lisbon, and also how they worked to fulfill their ambitions without running afoul of the political system, employing such methods as intermarriage or providing goods and services to the nobility in exchange for business privileges.
There are a number of strengths that make this volume worthwhile. First, the contributors were tasked with looking beyond Venice. To be sure, while there is still important work to be done on the merchants of Venice, these were joined by a host of entrepreneurs from elsewhere in early modern Italy. A second strength is the use of specific case studies. Despite concern that this method might lead to assumptions that the individuals and families chosen represent all merchants, it works here. For example, the detailed look at the contents of the mansion of Genoese banker Domenico Grillo in Madrid illuminates both Grillo’s preferred acquisitions, and also larger issues about the “practices of consumption” (69) in early modernity, expanding upon the work of such scholars as Evelyn Welch and Richard Goldthwaite. Third, the collection extends the situation for merchants into the eighteenth century. Despite fierce competition from a number of European powers, extending the history demonstrates that Italian merchants remained important actors in business dealings that began, particularly in the case of Genoa, as early as the latter part of the ninth century. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, all of the essays make extensive use of archival resources, most of them previously unexplored, and therefore unpublished.
For all of the book’s strengths, there are two recommendations that would have strengthened the essays, making them more useful for what appears to be the intended audience, scholars of the world of early modern merchants. In the main, the introductions drag a bit, which is unfortunate since the material that awaits the reader makes for compelling reading. Clearer statements of argument might provide a remedy. The only other recommendation comes from a look at the endnotes and the bibliography. Since all of the essays consider Italian merchants living in the diaspora, the work of Eric Dursteler on the Venetian community of Constantinople seems an important omission, even though none of the authors here write in detail about Venice. Similarly, the work of Mark Angelos on the Genoese sea loan contains useful context in terms of the conduct of overseas trade but does not appear to have been consulted.
Whatever the minor critiques, the essays offer a great deal of satisfaction for those who study merchants and for those seeking to broaden their understanding of the economic and political relations that existed between Italy’s merchants, and those of the Spanish monarchy. Engaging readers in the rich fabric of merchant life, the picture revealed here reminds that much of the global history of early modern Europe lies not in the feats of kings and clergy, but rather in the activities of merchants and their families who fed human desire for products that could only be found on distant shores, and inaugurated the first era of globalization.
