Economic issues of the Early Modern Period - Business enterprises, spaces, markets

Convenors

Luca Molà (European University Institute)
Mathieu Arnoux (Université Paris Diderot/ EHESS-CRH)

Organization committee

Ingrid Houssaye Michienzi (CNRS-Orient & Méditerranée-UMR 8167)
Suzanne Lassalle (European University Institute)
Agnès Pallini-Martin (EHESS-CRH/ANR ENPrESa)

ABSTRACT

The dynamics which made medieval economies evolve towards "modernity" have been the subject, for two decades, of new approaches to international markets and the manufacturing processes. Recent historiographical developments, in particular through the perspective of global history, have seen researchers develop interpretative models based on quantitative analysis, and lead investigations which favor the analysis of flows in geopolitical terms or consider them through anthropological and cultural methodologies. Another major development, which has come out of business history, approaches the study of organizations and institutions of the economy through comparative sociology. The findings of these diverse approaches have not yet been the object of a general discussion, one which confronts the methods, the sources and the hypotheses of research.

The objective of the Florence meeting will be to think afresh the sources relative to the European and Mediterranean economy of the 14^th-16^th centuries and to propose a plural approach which will address actors and their practices, material and immaterial flows, forms of organization and the markets. This congress, where the results of the collective investigation ANR ENPrESa on the Salviati archives (preserved in the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa) will be presented, intends to widen the lens to other archival collections, in order to grapple whith the common problems and issues arising from the exploitation of business documentation. From this perspective, the sources of business companies will be considered from two major points of view : the variety of models and practices of management and organization, and how to assess clues indicating the global evolutions of economies.
The various topics addressed at the conference will enable a confrontation with the results of investigations situated in specific times, geographies, and spaces that were diversified, constructed and articulated on markets. They will mainly focus on :

• The entrepreneurial structures and the modalities of action of companies dedicated to production, trade or banking activities.
• The action of « writing the activities » and the evolution of accounting practices.
• The functionalities of places, the hierarchical organization of merchandise flows and moneraty circulations, concentrating on questions regarding the articulation of geographical scales, operational spaces, and the measurement of time.
• The actors of industry and trade sectors : their positions in the company, their careers, their formation.

Presentations will be held in French, Italian or English. They will be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation in another language.

PROGRAMME

24 November 2016 (Villa Salviati)

9.40 Welcome of the participants

10.00 Welcoming words

10.15 Mathieu Arnoux (Université Paris-Diderot/ EHESS-CRH)
Jacques Bottin (CNRS-IHMC-UMR 8066)
Introduction

11.00 Maddalena Taglioli (SNS-Centro Archivistico, Pisa)
I Salviati : una famiglia e il suo archivio & presentation of the Salviati exhibition.

Session « Panorama of current research in Europe »
Chair : Luca Molà (European University Institute)

11.30 Kurt Weissen (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg)
Lo stato della ricerca in area di lingua tedesca su commercio e banca nel Medioevo.

11.55 David Igual Luis (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha)
Fonti e prospettive per lo studio delle imprese mercantili in area iberica (Castiglia ed Aragona, secoli XIV-XVI).

12.20 Discussion

13.00 Lunch break

Session « Accounting forms »
Chair : Yannick Lemarchand (Université de Nantes)

14.30 Francesco Ammannati (Università Commerciale L. Bocconi, Milano)

Verso un modello comune ? La contabilità industriale nelle compagnie dell’Arte della Lana toscane tra XIV e XVI secolo.

14.55 Serena Galasso (EHESS-CRH)
Forme dell’agire quotidiano : conti di donne nell’archivio Salviati (XV-XVI secoli).

15.20 Mathieu Harsch (Università di Padova, Ca’ Foscari Venezia e Verona)
Ariane Faraldi (ENS Lyon)
Deux contributions à l’histoire du travail salarié dans l’industrie textile florentine au Moyen Âge.

15.45 Coffee break

16.15 Nadia Matringe (London School of Economics/IHMC-UMR 8066)
Jacques Bottin (CNRS-IHMC-UMR 8066)
Les écritures comptables des Salviati du premier XVI^e siècle : modèle(s), pratiques, adaptations.

16.40 Clément Lenoble (CNRS-CIHAM-UMR 5648, Lyon)
L’Église et la comptabilité à la fin du Moyen Âge.

17.05 Discussion

25 November 2016 (Villa Salviati)

Session « the Salviati, consumers and producers »
Chair : Philippe Braunstein (EHESS-CRH)

9.40 Visit of the Salviati exhibition.

10.05 Sophie Desrosiers (EHESS-CRH)
Suzanne Lassalle (European University Institute)
Archéologie de la soie : la matassa chermisi du fonds Salviati.

10.20 Mathieu Arnoux (Université Paris-Diderot/ EHESS-CRH)
Franco Franceschi (Università di Siena, Arezzo)
Un secolo e tre generazioni d’Arte della Lana. La bottega Salviati nel convento di San Martino 1390-1480 circa.

10.45 Coffee break

11.15 Dominique Cardon (CNRS-CIHAM-UMR 5648, Lyon)
Ingrid Houssaye Michienzi (CNRS, Orient & Méditerranée-UMR 8167)
L’approvisionnement en colorants et mordants dans la compagnie “Francesco di Giuliano Salviati e comp., tintori d’arte Maggiore”, 1483-1498 : leçons, questions.

11.40 Sophie Desrosiers (EHESS-CRH)
Suzanne Lassalle (European University Institute)
Provenances et transformations de la soie dans les ateliers des soyeux florentins (XV^e-XVI^e siècles).

12.15 Discussion 

13.00 Lunch break

Session « Circulations and markets »
Chair : Anthony Molho (European University Institute)

14.30 Joana Sequeira (CHAM-FCSH Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade dos Açores y CITCEM-Universidade do Porto)
Le rôle du Portugal dans le réseau d’affaires Salviati (XV^e siècle).

14.55 Ingrid Houssaye Michienzi (CNRS-Orient & Méditerranée-UMR 8167)
Circulation et consommation des produits textiles florentins dans l’Empire ottoman à la fin du XV^e siècle.

15.20 Agnès Pallini-Martin (EHESS-CRH/ANR ENPrESa)
Le rôle d’un acteur florentin dans la commercialisation du pastel toulousain, fin XV^e-début XVI^e siècle.

15.45 Coffee break

16.15 Matthieu Scherman (Université Paris Diderot-ICT)
L’insertion et l’intégration d’agence à l’étranger : l’exemple de l’implantation des Salviati dans le Nord-Ouest de l’Europe au XVe siècle.

16.40 Romain Saffré (Directeur des musées de Saint-Omer)
La Curie et les circuits financiers de l’Europe de l’ouest au milieu du XV^e siècle.

17.05 Discussion

26 November 2016 (Badia Fiesolana)

Session « Bank and Finances »
Chair : Mathieu Arnoux (Université Paris-Diderot/ EHESS-CRH) 

9.40 
Amedeo Feniello (Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo)
Un altro dualismo ? Banche in Italia nel tardo Quattrocento.

10.05 
Jim Bolton (Queen Mary University of London)
Francesco Guidi Bruscoli (Università di Firenze)
The bill of exchange in theory and practice in the 1430s : the evidence of the Borromei ledgers.

10.30 
Nadia Matringe (London School of Economics/IHMC-UMR 8066)
Jacques Bottin (CNRS-IHMC-UMR 8066)
L’activité cambiaire des Salviati de Lyon : représentativité et singularité.

10.55 Coffee break

11.25 Discussion

12.00 Round-table