Economics
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Numbers, Measures, and the Transfer of Goods in Prehistory
Numbers weights and measurements and the systems underpinning them have always been a fundamental part of human society. Developed in different ways and at different times such systems have provided a foundation for science technology economics and new ways of engaging with and understanding the world. This volume aims to explore the background to numbers and measurements in more detail by drawing together specialists from a growing field of research. The contributions gathered here offer new and interdisciplinary insights into how the development of mathematical ideas and systems evolved early metrological systems the exchange of goods and their impact the standardization of measuring tools and the impact of such concepts. This unique volume is deliberately set broad both geographically and chronologically in order to compare and contrast changes over time and between peoples and in doing so it sheds new light on the social and scientific developments among both prehistoric and early historic societies.
Malfante l’Africain
Relire la « Lettre du Touat » (1447)
En 1447 Antonio Malfante un marchand génois adresse une lettre en latin depuis Tamentit dans l’oasis saharienne du Touat (actuelle Algérie). Il y décrit la région et livre des informations sur le Sahara et l’Afrique subsaharienne. Dans une perspective d’histoire globale ce livre explore tous les aspects d’une source exceptionnelle qui relie trois mondes interconnectés : celui des marchands italiens rayonnant en Méditerranée occidentale ; celui des routes sahariennes du Maghreb à Tombouctou ; celui des royaumes sociétés et cités de l’Afrique subsaharienne. Une approche interdisciplinaire revisite ce texte fameux. L’analyse philologique corrige nombre d’erreurs présentes depuis la première édition-traduction (La Roncière 1919) et présente les interactions linguistiques (latin italien arabe…). La contextualisation dans l’histoire du commerce transcontinental du xve siècle renouvelle la compréhension de la démarche de Malfante et de ses relais africains. L’analyse africaniste de sa description du Sahara et de l’Afrique subsaharienne lève un voile sur le Nord-Ouest de l’Afrique à une époque de raréfaction des sources écrites. Enfin une lecture historiographique du texte met en relief les présupposés colonialistes qui ont accompagné sa découverte. Combinant histoire textuelle commerciale et africaine cette relecture du « voyage de Malfante » présente une histoire globale euro-africaine entre christianisme islam et animisme entre recherche de profit description anthropologique et construction d’une image de l’autre.
Ritorno alla Flat Tax
Un itinerario di Atene antica fra VII e IV secolo?
Proporzionale o progressiva? Un problema di imposta oggi come in Atene antica. La ricerca muove da un’ipotesi di interpretazione di un lemma di Polluce relativo all’imposizione fiscale non sempre oggetto di adeguato interesse; essa procede in funzione della verifica dell’ipotesi sia attraverso una accurata lettura dei testi particolarmente attenta ai valori lessicali e ai problemi di natura critica-testuale sia attraverso il confronto con vari dati forniti dalla tradizione o desumibili da essa attinenti soprattutto all’ambito demografico e fiscale. In relazione a tale ordine di temi che costituiscono la linea dominante dell’indagine assume un interesse di notevole rilievo il carattere specifico delle cifre che sono elemento essenziale della discussione soprattutto le ‘cifre tonde’ e un ruolo determinante acquisiscono le coincidenze che emergono fra i dati attestati e quelli che risultano dalle premesse ipotetiche (coincidenze esatte o a volte non esatte ma con differenze generalmente irrilevanti). Di conseguenza non appaiono trascurabili gli indizi che potesse esistere un disegno preordinato allo sviluppo della città nelle sue diverse componenti: un disegno di cui le cifre sembrano conservare il riflesso.
Riches Beyond the Horizon
Long-distance Trade in Early Medieval Landscapes (ca. 6th-12th centuries)
This book offers new and innovative perspectives on long-distance trade between Europe the Mediterranean area the Middle East Africa India and China during the Early Medieval period. The archaeological data and historical insights presented in this volume are without exception of great interest often exciting and more than once astonishing. The goods which travelled between the continents in the timespan under discussion (ca. 6th to 12th centuries) include pottery in all shapes and forms textiles coins metal lava millstones glass marble columns rock-crystal beads and also plants used for incense. The scope of the contributions includes the wide-ranging economic contacts of a Viking community the changing patterns of long-distance trade in the Byzantine Empire the spread of Chinese pottery to Africa the Near East and Europe the information on maritime routes provided by shipwrecks in the Java Sea the reconstruction of an incense trade network and the production and distribution of textiles as well as stone objects in the Middle East and beyond. The varied approaches in this volume underline that the movement of objects in Early Medieval times over vast distances not only reflect mechanisms of exchange but also imply social networks and the transfer of ideas. Thus Riches Beyond the Horizon sheds compelling light on a world which was much more complex and much more interconnected than has often been assumed.
Comparing Two Italies. Civic Tradition, Trade Networks, Family Relationships between the Italy of Communes and the Kingdom of Sicily
The title of this volume recalls the famous 1977 book by David Abulafia The Two Italies about the origins of the so-called ‘unequal exchange’ and ‘dual economy’ between Northern and Southern Italy. These are supposed to have provided the ground for the so-called ‘Southern question’ (‘questione meridionale’) one of the foremost topics in the whole of Italian history. However trade is not the only relevant theme in a comparison between the Italy of Communes and the Kingdom of Sicily. This collection of essays points to different interpretative paths which concern not only trade networks but also less well-known aspects of the interrelation such as the rise of civic tradition the spread of Mendicant Orders and the circulation of wealth through family relationships women marriage and patrimonial assets.
La guerre, le prince et ses sujets
Les finances des Pays-Bas bourguignons sous les règnes de Marie de Bourgogne et Maximilien d’Autriche (1477-1493)
En 1477 l’onde de choc née de la défaite et de la mort de Charles le Téméraire se propagea à l’ensemble des possessions bourguignonnes. Face à Louis XI Marie de Bourgogne et Maximilien d’Autriche durent d’abord défendre l’intégrité territoriale de leur « grand héritage » amputé d’emblée de la plus grande partie des fiefs français. Retranchés aux Pays-Bas ils furent confrontés aux revendications des villes de Flandre et de Brabant porteuses d’un projet politique fondé sur l’autonomie des communautés et sur une stricte limitation des prérogatives du prince. La fiscalité et les finances furent au cœur de ce conflit dont elles ont été à la fois l’une des principales causes et l’enjeu primordial. Elles firent l’objet d’âpres débats dans les assemblées représentatives et aux États généraux. Qui du prince ou de ses sujets aurait le contrôle de la levée des impôts et de leur emploi ? Quel système militaire adopter qui fût à la fois efficace le moins coûteux possible dans un contexte économique marqué par le haut niveau des salaires et conforme aux idéaux politiques des acteurs en présence ? Les sources financières et comptables très abondantes permettent de saisir la réalité des enjeux politiques et ce qu’était le pouvoir d’achat de l’impôt. À ce titre la présente étude entend apporter un éclairage nouveau sur la nature et les limites de l’État princier en Occident à l’aube de la Renaissance.
Les ports des mers nordiques à l’époque viking (VIIe-Xe siècle)
Marchands pirates et autres voyageurs n’ont pas attendu le vii e siècle pour prendre la mer. Toutefois alors que les échanges tant commerciaux que culturels se développent fortement et que la voile fait son apparition dans les mers nordiques le contexte est propice à l’essor de grands ports marchands (emporia ou wics) sur leurs rives.
Les caractéristiques communes de ces établissements portuaires lieux de rencontre et de brassage au centre des réseaux d’échanges invitent à une approche comparative des espaces franc anglo-saxon scandinave et slave. Pour étudier les emporia à la lumière des recompositions politiques économiques et sociales des vii e-x e siècles un large éventail de sources à la fois textuelles et archéologiques est mobilisé dans le cadre d’une approche interdisciplinaire sollicitant également la géographie et l’anthropologie.
Ce livre cherche à comprendre les interactions entre ces ports et leurs arrière-pays et à mettre en lumière les réseaux dans lesquels ils s’inscrivent en prenant en compte les différents jeux d’échelles. Il s’agit de s’interroger sur les spécificités de ces communautés portuaires émergentes tout en reconsidérant leur place dans les réseaux économiques du premier Moyen Âge à la lumière des récentes découvertes qui bouleversent les approches traditionnelles en Europe et même au-delà.
Economies, Public Finances, and the Impact of Institutional Changes in Interregional Perspective
The Low Countries and Neighbouring German Territories (14th-17th Centuries)
The way and extent to which differences in economic systems and stages of development and the impact of institutional changes affected the political economy and fiscal systems of regions or vice versa is the overall theme of this volume. One major problem is the non-convergence of economic regions financial networks political borders and fiscal systems. The question is whether a set of variables is supra-regional interregional regional local or even a mix of all of these. These questions have broad implications for our understanding of urban society and the relations between town and countryside. This volume contains studies about economic financial and political structures and developments in different regions of the Low Countries and the Lower Rhine area in a regional comparative perspective during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period.
Food supply, demand and trade
Aspects of the economic relationship between town and countryside (Middle Ages – 19th century)
This book is a collection of articles studying various aspects of the relationship between town and countryside during the period from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. The focus is on how towns were supplied with basic foodstuffs and especial attention is paid to England and the Low Countries.
Among the articles several deal with the food-provisioning strategies of some of the major cities within that area - Antwerp Ghent and London - and show among other things that large cities were unable to meet their requirements from local supplies and had consequently to access markets further afield. Important matters given substantial elucidation are transport costs and market integration.
In historiography a great deal of attention has been paid to the influence of towns on the countryside and agriculture and particularly to the relationship between the rise of urban markets and the emergence of commercial agriculture but there is still no clarity about how town-countryside relationships influenced economic growth. One of the merits of this book is that it opens up new avenues to an understanding of the complex relationship between urban markets and commercial agriculture. The approach differs from article to article some scholars homing in on the individual strategies of farms others working more in the macroeconomic tradition. In sum the book is a valuable contribution to both rural and urban historiography and can provide a fresh stimulus to the study of economic relationships between town and countryside.
Piet van Cruyningen is senior researcher at the Wageningen University.
Erik Thoen is professor at the University of Ghent.
Le cheval dans les sociétés antiques et médiévales
Actes des Journées d'étude internationales organisées par l’UMR 7044 (Étude des civilisations de l’Antiquité), Strasbourg, 6-7 novembre 2009
These Actes des Journées d’étude internationales (Strasbourg 6-7 November 2009) are the end result of a 2007-2009 research programme held at the UMR 7044 (Étude des civilisations de l’Antiquité: de la Préhistoire à Byzance) on the role of the horse in the Byzantine Empire. These fourteen contributions focus on the role of the horse in both war and leisure from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.
The book is divided into three sections. In the first the contributors analyze the origins and use of cavalry in the Roman army. Additionally this section explores the regional differences in the breeding of horses throughout the Mediterranean their monetary value as well as the hippological knowledge of Antiquity. The chapters constituting the second part discuss the medieval Byzantine and western horse. They approach this subject via texts archaeological sources illustrations and an examination of the customs and traditions of these civilizations. The final part focuses on hippological instruments weapons and the care of horses. Here the contributors examine the innovations adoptions and adaptations during late Antiquity of pieces of equestrian equipment essential for war such as stirrups and bits. Horsemen’s weapons are re-evaluated as well as the changes in their tactics brought about by the widespread adoption of stirrups. Also present is an analysis of the vocabulary used for the anatomy of the horse in Greek hippological literature which saw an unprecedented increase at this time thanks to the development of the Roman and Proto-Byzantine cavalry.
From one sea to another. Trading places in the European and Mediterranean Early Middle ages
Proceedings of the International Conference, Comacchio 27th-29th March 2009
Recent excavations at Comacchio as well as archaeological research in the Venetian lagoon are defining the northern Adriatic region as an especially dynamic area in demographic rather than economic terms during the early Middle Ages. This dynamism is best expressed in the form of new centres of settlement with specific characteristics principally associated with short- and long-distance trade. This phenomenon possesses a strong resemblance to the emergence of similar places along the North Sea coastline from more or less the same period. This phenomenon has been much debated by historians and archaeologists who have ascribed the source of these new specialized centres (defined as emporia or wics) as prototypes for future mercantile cities and the rebirth of the medieval economy.
The scope of the congress at Comacchio was to evaluate the most recent evidence in a historical and archaeological context addressingthe importance of these new Adriatic centres as well as considering comparisons for the first time with the more familiar northern European trading centres.
An Illusory Emporium? Small Trading Places around the southern North Sea
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
Madelinus and the Disappearing of Gold
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
Villa Non Modica? Some Thoughts on the Interpretation of a large Early Medieval Earthwork near Dorestad
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
Chemical Characterisation of Glass and Inlays from Dorestad. Preliminary Results of Non-destructive X-Ray Fluorescence Analyses
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
Back matter (“Bibliography”, “About the authors”, “Name index”)
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
Dorestad Discussed. Connections and Conclusions
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
New Research in Dorestad. Preliminary Results of the Excavation at the former Fruit Auction Hall (‘Veilingterrein’) at Wijk bij Duurstede
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
Welcome to Dorestad. A History of Searching and Finding ‘the Dutch Troy’
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.
The Influence of Dorestad Coinage on Coin Design in England and Scandinavia
Dorestad is a large wealthy and internationally orientated harbour town from the Carolingian era excavated at the site of Wijk bij Duurstede in the middle of the Netherlands. In the 8th and 9th century AD it functioned as a junction in a network of Carolingian emporia or vici that covered most of present-day Europe. The past decade featured new research into the relations between these towns their environmental and cultural context the exchange of goods coins and ideas and the role of emperors and Vikings in their rise and fall. This publication contains the results of a scholarly congress in Leiden in June 2009 where renowned historians and archaeologists from eight countries presented studies into the Carolingian emporia their material culture and their position in early medieval Europe composed around Dorestad the only emporium called ‘vicus famosus’ in contemporary sources.