Merchants' attitudes to work in the Barcelona of the later Middle Ages: organisation of working space,distribution of time and scope of investments

The debate concerning the attitude to work of medieval and renaissance merchants has been one of the most intense in twentieth-century historiography. Arising from the publication of the classic works of the sociologist Max Weber, the debate entered the field of historiography proper after the appearance of articles by Werner Sombart and Henri Pirenne. In the 1950s and 1960s, the works of Yves Renouard and Armando Sapori centred discussion on the development of a specifically mercantile culture in the Italy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In this historiographic context, the article below is an attempt to approach, through original sources, the figure of the merchant in late medieval Barcelona. These sources are inventories, wills, and marriage contracts, through which is offered a three-dimensional analysis of the professional culture of such a merchant; the concept of professional space; the organisation of time; and the bearings of his commercial and patrimonial investments. The result of this analysis is an attempt to reinterpret the decadence of Barcelona at the end of the fifteenth century through the notion of work entertained by those involved in commerce, attempting by this means to merge the consideration of economic and cultural matters. It is also a proposal for a model of analysis of professional categories, which on so many occasions have been left to one side because of the preponderance of more traditional questions such as those concerning society, economics or politics.     

国民革命时期长沙市商民协会会所被毁案

1926年12月长沙市商民协会正式成立后,促使湖南商民运动得到了迅速发展。但次年1月因苏广业店员联合会提出改良店员待遇要求,遭店主反对而导致劳资纠纷,商民协会参与仲裁时偏向店主一方,致使店员产生强烈不满而引发捣毁市商民协会会所案发生。在查处该案过程中,国民党湖南省党部虽竭力调解,但市商协对该案未得到迅速处置深为不满,以组织全体商家游行和罢市相威胁。省党部迫不得已,接受了市商协提出的改组店员联合会和惩处为首分子等一系列要求。其最终结果,不仅使总工会和苏广业店员联合会深感受到压抑,而且也并未使商民协会感到完全满意,似乎劳资双方都不无怨言。     

‘Defense of the realm’: evolution of a Capetian propaganda slogan

Historians have long recognized the importance of the Roman-canonical maxim ‘defense of the realm’ to the propaganda politics practised by later Capetian kings, most notably in the climactic struggle between Philip the Fair and Boniface VIII. Although rightly conceding to Roman law the major impulse to its formulation, they have been less sensitive to the way in which the doctrine fits into historical images of Capetian kingship. The theory of the king as defender of the realm was critical in the early as well as late middle ages. In tracing the evolution of this slogan through the chronicle tradition of Saint-Denis, the most extensive and consistently royalist historical corpus in Capetian France, one sees the emergence of concepts congruent with those developed in legal and canonical texts, but which reveal little or no influence from these more learned sources.This article argues that the chroniclers' persistent focus on the image of the king as royal defender facilitated the interior evolution of the meaning of ‘defense of the realm’ from that of feudal tuitio to the public concept of Roman jurisprudence. The chroniclers of Saint-Denis thus testify to the way in which older theories of monarchy were being subtly transformed by the changing nature of kingship itself. But at the same time they lend an air of coherency and familiarity to one of the most disruptive periods of Capetian history and sustain a sense of the evolution of the French monarchy within the context of fundamental notions governing medieval kingship.     

中日早期招商局借款考

1877年前后,中日之间曾经有过一次鲜为人知的轮船招商局借款交涉。为筹集收购旗昌轮船公司的款项,招商局会办朱其诏曾经向日本探询借款之事,日本也派人到上海与其谈判。双方虽然有过几次会谈,但在抵押品、利息等问题上存在分歧。此议最终由于种种原因而不了了之。然而这次短暂的谈判却非常特殊,它不仅是招商局的首次对外借款交涉,还是近代中国的首批实业借款交涉之一,在近代中日经济关系史上也具有重要意义。     

论儒释道对徽商的影响

古徽州自南宋以来素有程朱阙里、东南邹鲁之称,是中华文化正宗传承的典型地域。徽商自小受传统文化的耳濡目染,在其思想深处形成了共同的观念、信仰、伦理道德、礼仪习俗等文化特质,建立了一种以同行公认、自愿遵守并以商业行为制度为特征的文化模式。徽商不仅经济基础雄厚,而且造就了独特的徽州文化,其丰富的文化内涵,在充分体现中国正统儒家思想的同时,也映射出释家和道家思想的光茫。本文拟就儒释道在徽州的发展状况及其对徽商的影响作详细分析,以便全面、准确地把握和理解徽商的文化理念。     

Some Nahua concepts in postconquest guise

Merchant activity was a central element in the networks and webs of relationship over the Atlantic in the eighteenth century. When closely analyzed, however, daily merchant practice does not fit easily into regional categories, whether Atlantic or imperial. Merchant life was heavily dependent on the building of chains of trusted correspondents, who would both be able to guarantee adequate quality and satisfactory pricing upon acquisition or sale of the goods traded, and willing to extend credit in a trading world in which all operations included long time lags before final payment. For each trading center, the addition of such chains of correspondents constituted networks both supra-regional, covering the entire world, and sub-regional, specializing in some areas more than others according to prevalent political-imperial pressures. It is argued that the common element in all these networks, i.e. merchant development, is best identified as a worldwide, but Europe-dominated social process underpinning much of what is usually meant by “Atlantic” history.     

Economic autonomy and male authority: female merchants in modern Italy

This paper examines the social role of 'mercantesse' (entrepreneuses), women who, in contemporary Italian society, were the owners of manufacturing and trading activities. The first part is dedicated to the legal aspects, with particular reference to the institution of marital authorization and to the various social standing of three very different personae: the female merchant, the partner wife and the merchant-wife. The second part compares the regulatory aspects of this activity with the concrete reality, on the basis of census data and registrations at the Chambers of Commerce. Generally, the trends which come to the fore are unexpected ones, and are characterized by both the recognition of important and not exclusively economic power, as well as the legal, economic and social limits which conditioned not only access to this kind of activity but also the way in which it was carried out.     

李鸿章与晚清漕粮海运

晚清漕粮海运与李鸿章的关系密不可分.他通过恢复海运扩大漕粮海运的参与省份,调整海运规章、抚恤海运群体,扶植轮船招商局、促进漕粮运输工具近代化等方式,对漕粮海运的变革产生了全方位影响,成为推动中国社会走向近代的重要人物.