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SUMMARY:The Spinelli Family: A mid-sized Florentine firm’s response to t
 he opening of the Americas and Cape Route trade\, 1450-1520 - Eleanor Russ
 ell (University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20181015T113000Z
DTEND:20181015T123000Z
UID:TALK112588@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ying Dai
DESCRIPTION:This paper will ask how much trade and finance changed for sma
 ller companies between the later fifteenth and the mid-sixteenth centuries
 . Extensive research has been performed upon the activities of the great c
 ompanies\, but the lesser ones remain neglected. To address this deficit\,
  this paper will examine the activities of the Spinelli family\, a mid-siz
 e Florentine company that has left extensive records but has received fair
 ly little attention in the literature. To what degree did they trade in ov
 erseas goods? How involved were they with the great companies\, particular
 ly the non-Italian ones? Did they become more engaged in European trade be
 yond Italy\, and did their European trade items change? Regarding finance\
 , the paper will question how much the smaller companies mimicked the grea
 t firms’ increased lending to rulers and diplomats beyond Italy\, and wh
 ether any such loans suggest long-term financial involvement.[new para]Thi
 s paper will largely rely upon an analysis of the mid-fifteenth to mid-six
 teenth century inventories\, correspondence\, tax records and account book
 s in the Spinelli archive at Yale University. The scanty and inconsistent 
 nature of the sources makes it risky to rely upon statistical analyses. Th
 e tax and census records are more complete than the account books\, but si
 nce merchants sought to conceal their wealth to lower taxes they are also 
 not reliable. Thus\, while the paper will seek to provide statistics where
  possible\, this will be done with a great deal of caution and it will lar
 gely make more general conclusions\, noting if new items of trade occur\, 
 if places of trade and banking change\, and if new companies and borrowers
  are involved. In tracking the Spinelli’s locations of trade and the peo
 ple with whom it traded and dealt in banking\, this paper will also draw u
 pon the methods of network theory.[new para]I anticipate that this paper w
 ill demonstrate that the Spinelli changed to having far more involvement i
 n the trade of non-Italian goods\, especially Flemish cloth\, in the sixte
 enth century\, and had long-term involvement with companies directly engag
 ed in large-scale colonial trade. I believe that the paper will also show 
 that they had extensive trade and financial dealings with Spain and Portug
 al\, a point that is rarely addressed in analyses of the mid-tier Florenti
 ne companies\, and that\, like the great Florentine companies\, they worke
 d closely with German firms and also the court surrounding Charles V.
LOCATION:Room 6\, Faculty of History
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