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State Cash Resources and State Building in Europe 13th-18th century

 | 
Katia Béguin
, 
Anne L. Murphy

Markets for Public Debt Securities

‘A Wise Man Is Always Ready to Face a Disaster’. The Professional Skill of Genoese, Florentine and Portuguese Financial Operators in Seventeenth-Century Exchange Fairs

Claudio Marsilio

Note de l’auteur

The author would like to thank the owner of the private Archive Durazzo Giustiniani of Genoa (Dr Marcello Cattaneo Adorno) for his kind hospitality and the archivist (Dr Maddalena Giordano) for help in accessing the documents.

Texte intégral

I. The Exchange Fairs: a Brief History

  • 1 J. A. Van Houtte, ‘Bruges et Anvers marchés “nationaux” ou “internationaux” du XIVe au XVIsiècle’ (...)
  • 2 E. Cornaert, ‘Caractères et mouvement des foires internationales au Moyen Âge et au XVIsiècle’, i (...)
  • 3 R. L. Reynolds, ‘Genoese trade in the late 12th century, particularly in cloth, from the fairs of C (...)
  • 4 The most important works are: R.-H. Bautier, The fairs of Champagne, in R. Cameron (ed.), Essays in (...)
  • 5 S. Epstein, ‘Fairs, towns, and states in Renaissance Europe’, in S. Cavaciocchi (ed.), Fiere e merc (...)
  • 6 M. Cassandro, ‘Credito e banca in Italia tra Medioevo e Rinascimento’, in Credito e sviluppo econom (...)
  • 7 M. Cassandro, ‘Strategia degli affari dei mercanti-banchieri italiani alle fiere internazionali d’O (...)
  • 8 M.-T. Boyer-Xambeau, G. Deleplace and L. Gillard, Banchieri e principi. Moneta e credito nell’Europ (...)
  • 9 M. Cassandro, ‘Le fiere nell’economia europea medievale e della prima età moderna’, Studi storici L (...)

1The eleventh- and twelfth-century Flemish fairs held in the town of Bruges were the first examples of trade meetings organized on an international scale which promoted commercial exchange. A second example is the town of Antwerp1 which inherited, in a certain sense, the tradition of Bruges, though adopting more complex procedures that were better suited to the necessities of a growing economy.2 In the thirteenth century the Italian merchants from the towns of Siena, Florence, Lucca, Milan and Genoa3 reached the French trading centres of the Champagne,4 followed very soon by other merchants from all parts of Europe.5 On these occasions, commercial exchanges were carried out together with credit operations which developed currency exchange mechanisms and other related tools.6 The presence of the Genoese merchants, who took part in the Champagne events starting from the fifteenth century, became more intense in the following century, when they became the leaders of this new type of fair where only bills of exchange were traded.7 But exchange fairs acquired their modern features only when they were transferred to Lyon in the sixteenth century.8 In fact, in the towns along the Rhône the merchant-bankers organized two distinct series of fairs: one of goods and another of exchange, clearly linked to the growing international credit market.9

  • 10 G. Giacchero, Il Seicento e le compere di San Giorgio, Genoa, Sagep, 1979, p. 39 and p. 59; D. Giof (...)
  • 11 J. G. da Silva, Banque et crédit en Italie au XVIIsiècle, Paris, Klincksieck, 1969. For a bibliog (...)

2In the 1530s, as French merchants and many other Italian colleagues were evidently boycotting the Ligurian financial operators, the Genoese bankers were driven to set up a new exchange fair. So, in 1535, the Genoese Senate established that the exchange fairs were to be held in Besançon, in the Free County, under the jurisdiction of Emperor Charles V, new ‘protector’ of the recently created Genoese republic.10 Then, in 1579 these meetings were transferred to Piacenza, under the protection of the Farnese dukes, and there the exchange fairs reached their height in the next forty years. In fact, Piacenza became the main European credit market, and an increasing number of operators from all over Europe were gathered there and the volume of business increased.11

  • 12 For a general analysis of the financial market of early modern Europe, see L. Neal, ‘How it all beg (...)
  • 13 ‘Bisenzone’ is the toponym (coming from Besançon) frequently used also in the seventeenth century.
  • 14 On the Genoese bankers operating in Spain during the reign of Philip IV, see C. Álvarez Nogal, Los (...)
  • 15 A. Castillo Pintado, ‘Los juros de Castilla. Apogeo y fin de un instrumento de crédito’, Hispania, (...)

3During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Genoese bankers offered many financial services all over Europe at such high levels that few were able to compete with them. Undoubtedly the Genoese exchange fairs’ network was an excellent mechanism to process and to manage financial information. Not only that, but the fairs also offered an efficient system to transfer precious metals to different creditors all over Europe.12 Their success was due to their prominent role in financing the Spanish monarchy; their leadership began with their first loans (the asiento) of the sixteenth century and it continued until the last decades of the seventeenth century. At ‘Bisenzone’,13 the Genoese bankers14 raised money for these loans from a variety of sources, reducing the risks of lending and funding the king’s long-term obligations via short-term loans.15

4The prime mover of the Genoese exchange fairs was – more than international commerce – the huge volume of transactions generated by the Spanish crown’s public debt and the financial speculations of the most influential European financial operators (Genoese and Florentine above all). In fact, Piacenza and later on Novi became the main credit markets where an increasing number of operators from all over Europe were gathered together. Thanks to this, the volume of transactions multiplied and multilateral commercial relations increased extraordinarily at the international level.

5The exchange fairs of Novi created an efficient financial network under Genoese control and permitted arbitrage among the other northern Italian financial markets (Piacenza, Verona and Bolzano). In fact, in 1621, the Genoese bankers decided to transfer the seat of the fair to Novi, under the jurisdiction of the republic of Genoa. This act marked the beginning of a series of splits within the ‘contrattatione’ of the bankers operating in the Italian fairs. In the first decades of the seventeenth century the history of the exchange fairs was characterized by the simultaneous existence of different credit markets. Some Italian financial operators, for example, some Florentine and Milanese bankers, did not follow their Genoese colleagues to the first meeting at Novi, but many of them rather decided to continue organizing their fairs at Piacenza, thus starting a ‘parallel series’ of fairs, de facto leading to a secession in 1622. Nor did the Venetian bankers accept the decision taken by their Genoese colleagues that obliged them to get to Novi to participate in the new fair. Starting from 1631, they also set up a ‘parallel meeting’ in the town of Verona. This new fair turned out to be a rather weak institution, probably due to the scarce participation of operators. The fair of Verona received a cold welcome from both domestic and – especially – foreign brokers and it was therefore doomed to failure in a short time (it probably lasted less than twenty years).

  • 16 G. Canali, Il magistrato mercantile di Bolzano e gli statuti delle fiere, Florence, s.n., 1942. The (...)
  • 17 A copy of the laws of the fair of Bolzano can be found in Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Munich), 4 M (...)

6At the end of the 1620s, the merchants of Bolzano were granted a first series of privileges by the town authorities in order to stimulate commerce in the Adige town. The efforts to reorganize their traditional fairs – personally supported by archduchess Claudia de’ Medici of Tyrol – intensified during the first years of the following decade, and led to the establishment of the Merchant Magistrate (‘Magistrato mercantile’) in 1633.16 The merchants and the local authority accordingly modified the fair’s laws and the final draft was published in a dual-language edition in 1635 (Italian and German).17

Table 1. A comparative chronology of the Italian exchange fairs in the seventeenth century

Novi

Piacenza

Verona

Bolzano

‘Apparizione’(1st week of February)

‘Purificazione’ (1st week of February)

February

Mid-Lent

Easter

St Mark

May

Corpus Christi

August

St John the Baptist

August

St Bartholomew (St Giles)

All Saints’ Day

St Charles

November

St Andrew

7The decline of the Genoese fairs started from the second half of the seventeenth century, when they began to lose their monopoly on the European credit market, although still having a strong influence in the money market, at least until the meetings were temporary transferred to Sestri Levante in 1693 and, definitively, to Santa Margherita Ligure in 1708. The choice of two small centres of the Eastern Ligurian Riviera confirms that the Genoese fairs assumed a reduced relevance at the end of the seventeenth century.

II. The Bill of Exchange: a Definition

8The bills of exchange were payment promises represented by a debt written in front of a notary. These cashless transactions involved:

  1. the merchant, who raised a credit in front of the notary;

  2. the creditor, who lent the money and requested the repayment;

  3. the creditor’s representative(s) who could receive the repayment in place of the creditor himself.

  • 18 M. A. Denzel, ‘The system of cashless payment as a basis for the commercial integration of Europe a (...)
  • 19 R. De Roover, L’évolution de la lettre de change (XIVeXVIIe siècles), Paris, A. Colin, 1953.
  • 20 C. Marsilio, ‘“Four times a year for so many years”. The Italian exchange fairs during the 16th–17t (...)

9The lettera di cambio (bill of exchange) became the most important mean of cashless payment transaction18 and the most reliable credit instrument for providing liquidity in the most developed commercial and financial centres.19 The buyer of the bill sent the original bill of exchange and – to be safe – possibly various copies (‘prima, seconda, terza di cambio’) and an accompanying letter (called advice letter and in the case of the fair the ‘spaccio di fiera’). Then the remitter sent a copy of the bill, sometimes also accompanied by a letter of advice to the drawee. Finally, the payee would accredit the remitter with the amount of the bill of exchange (‘per me pagate’).20

III. The Exchange Fairs: Deeper Insights

  • 21 The most interesting ‘manuale di mercatura’ dealing with the exchange fairs is: Giovanni Domenico P (...)

10The exchange fair may be defined as a credit market through which a considerable amount of money was moved from one town to another.21 These flows of money generated large profits when the lucrative investments reached maturity. The fairs were well-established institutions that rhythmically and cyclically marked the time of the European financial calendar. The fair allowed the concentration of a large amount of business over a few days and in a single place, and it created a circuit of credit in the form of loans that would be repaid, after three months, at the following meeting.

11The complex mechanisms of fairs can only work properly when sustained by a network of agents and series of information that was as widespread and reliable as possible. In fact, the development of these articulated payment networks began to be efficient from the moment when the letter of exchange’s circulation was granted legal protection and professional interactions became more solid and interrelated. This network was built through a socialization procedure where neither automatism nor anonymity was possible; here a small number of individuals recognized one another thanks to their family or community ties.

  • 22 See in particular G. D. Peri, Il negotiante, part I, op. cit., pp. 73–84.

12Usually each fair lasted eight days and it could not be anticipated. Only in exceptional cases could the fairs be delayed, and these postponements had to be decided in Genoa and ratified by the Senate. The ‘trattanti’, the bankers who took part in the works, usually met at the consul’s residence, where they were given hospitality.22 They wrote notes on their ‘scartafaccio’, the fair register where credit and debit operations were posted, which was afterwards handed over to the chancellor of the fair (the notary supervising the fair’s works) in order to allow negotiations to start.

  • 23 The best price lists are pointed out in J. J. McCusker and C. Gravesteijn, The beginning of commerc (...)

13On the second day, the bankers came to an agreement to offset their positions and to draw up a first provisional balance. On the third day, the prices of the currencies of the main European centres and the bills of exchange due date calendar were fixed. On the fourth day, the letters of exchange and the price lists (listini) were sent, and the messages previously sent containing notice of acceptance of the bills of exchange settled on the first day of the fair were answered.23 On the fifth day, a book (libro del calcolo) with places and dates of acceptance, the exchange rates, and the market places where those operations would be settled was filled in. The sixth day was devoted to drawing up the final balance; the incoming answers to the letters previously sent allowed the offsetting of many positions, in particular the outstanding transactions; the chancellor went to see the bankers and made a note of all protested and outstanding entries on his book. On the seventh day, each operator audited the figures on his fair register (scartafaccio), wrote down the addresses of the bankers, swapped bills of exchange duly signed and registered the payments received. On the eighth day, the bankers handed the ‘balance-sheet’ over to the consul, who declared the fair officially over.

IV. The Professional Skills of the Exchange Fairs’ Brokers

14The studies carried out by economic historians have rarely highlighted the significance of the agents working at the fairs, even though the way they operated could also supply some very useful information to help us understand the professional skills of the modern banker. The skills required of a ‘procuratore di fiera’ were: understanding the fluctuations of both the financial market and the political situation, sagacity, foresight and, last but not least, the ability to make rapid decisions in order not to lose interesting profit opportunities.

15During the fairs, the ‘trattanti’ or ‘cambisti’ could act in their own names (as businessmen) or employees, but probably more often as agents or legal representatives (the ‘procuratore di fiera’). Fair transactions were possible because the agents were given instructions about how to comply with the necessary procedures. The reliability and strength of the habits acquired were another reason for the network’s long-lasting success; it was a mechanism that allowed the building of individual reputations and the credibility of the system itself, and the benefits obtainable grew according to the number of participants. Differences of price for the same currency quoted on different markets were then brought to light by these relationships, which also helped to reduce risks relating to solvency guarantee of the bills of exchange issued on foreign markets.

  • 24 G. Felloni, Moneta, credito e banche in Europa: un millennio di storia, Genoa, Brigati, 1999, p. 94

16The trained operator had to be able to interpret market signals about a series of economic indicators, such as trends of currency exchange and interest rates, and to put them into practice in a tangible and efficient way. This action, moreover, had to be respectful of the principles shared by a professional group where the operator’s skills were judged most of all by the esteem and confidence with which he was regarded. These principles were communicated through two particular types of commercial letters: the letters of fair (spacci) and the bills of exchange (tracta). The letters of fair contained the operating instructions required to settle the exchange agreements. The physical exchange was actually carried out and settled only through the bills of exchange containing the order of payment sent to the agent in the fair.24 The exchange agreement stated that the operator receiving a a certain amount of money – espressed in the local currency – was bound to pay the same value, but in the currency used in another market place.

V. The Florentine Operators: Some Examples

  • 25 I would like to thank Prof. Wolfgang Kaiser for his kind support during my research in the archives (...)
  • 26 In the Bartolommei’s papers there are two complete series of account books of the Piacenza fairs: t (...)
  • 27 There are at least two different editions of the laws of the Genoese exchange fairs: Capitoli e ord (...)

17In the Archivio di Stato of Florence we have discovered an impressive collection of books of accounts of Antonio Maria Bartolommei, one of the most influential Florentine bankers of the first half of the seventeenth century.25 One section is composed of the Bartolommei’s account books which were used in the exchange fairs of Piacenza (1601–1611)26 and it permitted us to count the commissions paid by Antonio Maria Bartolommei to his procuratore (Vincenzo Bartolini). It is important to remember that the laws of the fair (Capitoli delle fiere)27 fixed the procuratore di fiera’s commissions at 0.33% of the money traded in each fair. It is interesting to underline that the trend of the fees gained by Bartolini was stable until the year 1607 when it grew significantly. We must remember that in 1607 the Spanish crown declared a quiebra (default) and it is possible that the Florentine operators were less affected by the Spanish Treasury’s difficulties and that they probably had the opportunity to increase their business thanks to the manifest problems that this insolvency caused to the Genoese bankers.

Figure 1. Antonio Maria Bartolommei’s agent (procuratore Vincenzo Bartolini): commissions paid at Piacenza fairs (1601–1611). Commissions expressed in scudi di marche

Figure 1. Antonio Maria Bartolommei’s agent (procuratore Vincenzo Bartolini): commissions paid at Piacenza fairs (1601–1611). Commissions expressed in scudi di marche

Source: Archivio di Stato di Firenze (ASFi), Bartolommei, regg. 145-146-147.

  • 28 S. Groppi, L’archivio Saminiati Pazzi, Milano, EGEA, 1990, pp. 84–87. I would like to thank Prof. F (...)

18A second example for the Florentine credit market is offered by Luca Tornaquinci’s account books for the years 1624–1626. The Florentine firm was run from May 1624 to December 1626. The partners involved in the business were: Luca (working in Venice) and Matteo (in Florence) Tornaquinci, Andrea Bettini and Giovacchino Guasconi (head of another firm in Venice). At the end of 1626 Luca Tornaquinci died and the commercial activity stopped. Soon afterwards a new company was set up by the same partners along with some new bankers (Ascanio Saminiati and Giovacchino Guasconi), all of them ‘trained’ in Luca’s company.28 Some years later Ascanio Saminiati became one of the most powerful brokers in the Florentine credit market.

Figure 2. Tornaquinci Company’s agent: Luca Tornaquinci’s commissions at Piacenza fairs (1624–1625). Commissions expressed in scudi di marche

Figure 2. Tornaquinci Company’s agent: Luca Tornaquinci’s commissions at Piacenza fairs (1624–1625). Commissions expressed in scudi di marche

Source: Archivio Saminiati Pazzi di Milano (ASPMi), regg. 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184.

VI. A Genoese ‘Big Company’ Trading at the Fairs: the Spinola Firm

  • 29 A more detailed report of the economic and financial investments of the Spinola Company can be foun (...)

19In order to obtain the credit required to sustain the military expenditures of the war of Flanders, Bartolomeo Spinola, the mighty factor general who was negotiating many asientos for the Spanish Hacienda Real, chose to do business with the firm ‘Gregorio Spinola e Giovanni Luca Spinola’. Gregorio was Bartolomeo’s brother and his company traded a huge amount of letters of exchange on the Italian fairs (Novi, Piacenza and Verona) in order to supply Bartolomeo with the necessary credit at the scheduled time. We can follow the evolution of the system of payments (paghe) of the Spinola Company for more than two decades. Just to give a general idea of the huge amount of money that the company loaned to the Spanish crown during the period 1630–1642, Spinola’s asientos are shown in figure 3.29

Figure 3. Spinola’s asientos expressed in Spanish escudos (1630–1642)

Figure 3. Spinola’s asientos expressed in Spanish escudos (1630–1642)

Source: Archivio Storico del Comune di Genova (ASCG), Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 683, 686, 687, 688.

  • 30 The conditions of the payments were fully described in detailed letters. In particular it was very (...)
  • 31 G. Mandich, Le pacte de ricorsa et le marché des changes au XVIIsiècle, Paris, A. Colin, 1953 (fo (...)

20From Madrid Bartolomeo sent orders of payments30 and the Spinola Company, thanks to his well-developed network of clients and agents, obtained credit on different Italian financial markets. In return, Bartolomeo repaid his brother’s company issuing new letters of exchange negotiated in different European financial centres, sometimes using the patto di ricorsa’s technique. The ‘ricorsa’ that was developed at the international exchange fairs of the seventeenth century was quite similar to the dry exchange. This peculiar credit contract was very popular, in particular, at the Genoese exchange fairs, and reached its highest diffusion starting from the 1620s.31

21The cashless system of the fairs was very complex, but it was very effective and suitable for the payments calendar of the Spanish caja militar settled in Brussels. Once the crown had paid its debt (in cash or silver ingots) the Genoese bankers were ready to sell the silver to other financial operators (usually Florentine and Venetian brokers) and new asientos could be signed.

22The successful strategy in the financial market of that period was to be simultaneously present on every credit market. The Spinola Company was represented at the Genoese fairs (at Novi) by Giovanni Tommaso Romairone, one of the most highly esteemed Genoese brokers who worked for the most powerful Genoese firms. During the 1630s the Genoese firm was also represented at the Venetian fairs of Verona by Bernardino Benzio, at least until 1636 when Benzio’s firm failed. At the fairs of Piacenza their agent was Giovanni Battista Agliati, one of the most important operators of the Milanese financial market.

Figure 4. Commissions of Spinola’s agents at the Italian exchange fairs (1631–1647): Novi (Giovanni Tommaso Romairone), Piacenza (Giovanni Battista Agliati) and Verona (Bernardino Benzio). Commissions expressed in Genoese lira

Figure 4. Commissions of Spinola’s agents at the Italian exchange fairs (1631–1647): Novi (Giovanni Tommaso Romairone), Piacenza (Giovanni Battista Agliati) and Verona (Bernardino Benzio). Commissions expressed in Genoese lira

Source: ASCG, Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 686, 687, 688.

  • 32 The mediatori dei cambi used by the Spinola Company are: Leonardo Pittaluga, Pier Antonio Rolla, Ag (...)

23In the period 1639–1644 the Spinola firm also used, on the Genoese market, many brokers (mediatori di cambio)32 in order to trade some additional letters of exchange. The mediatori di cambio were not involved in the international financial market, but at the local level (e.g. the Genoese market) they could guarantee very rapidly a significant amount of money to the international bankers. In fact, they usually obtained loans from private investors (usually simple investors, but sometimes religious institutions too) and they helped the asientistas to collect the necessary credit to support the exchange fairs’ business.

24Thanks to the preservation of the books of accounts it has also been possible to estimate the operating expenses supported by the Spinola Company at the fairs of Novi (1631–1643).

Figure 5. Spinola’s operating expenses at the fairs expressed in Genoese lira (1631–1643)

Figure 5. Spinola’s operating expenses at the fairs expressed in Genoese lira (1631–1643)

Source: ASCG, Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 686.

VII. Giorgio and Giovanni Giorgio Sanguineti: a Genoese ‘Medium Enterprise’ at the Fairs (1634–1656)

25We do not have much information about another Genoese firm: ‘Giorgio and Giovanni Giorgio Sanguineti’. But in the Archivio Storico del Comune of Genoa we have discovered a couple of well-preserved books of accounts that have helped us to reconstruct the Sanguineti’s business at the Genoese fairs. The double-entry book-keeping has permitted us to discover the Sanguineti’s network which supported strong professional connections with other members of the family who were settled in the most relevant Italian and Spanish commercial centres.

Table 2. The Sanguineti brothers’ network (1634–1656)

  • 33 Giorgio Sanguineti in association with Giacinto Costa and Geronimo Vassallo.
  • 34 Archivio di Stato di Roma (ASR), Odescalchi, feudo di Bracciano, reg. XXXI.E.12, register of letter (...)

Giorgio33

Genoa

Giovanni Giorgio

Genoa

(Giovanni) Francesco34

Cagliari

Toledo (1631–1633)

Madrid (1640)

Lelio

Lucca

Giulio

Milan

Gregorio

Ferrara

Genesio

Naples

26Giorgio and his brother Giovanni Giorgio had been trading for two decades at the exchange fairs in Novi and we have counted the fees paid to their agents on those occasions.

Figure 6. The Sanguineti’s agents (Lelio Sanguineti and Lelio Picchetti): commissions expressed in Genoese lira (1634–1655)

Figure 6. The Sanguineti’s agents (Lelio Sanguineti and Lelio Picchetti): commissions expressed in Genoese lira (1634–1655)

Source: ASCG, Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 678, 679.

27As in the case of the Spinola Company, we have also counted their operating expenses, although the books of accounts of the Sanguineti firm only cover a short period.

Table 3. The Sanguineti’s operating expenses at the fairs, expressed in Genoese lira (1634–1637)

Year, fair

Expenses

Notes

1634, Pasqua

177

Travel and lodging (Lelio Sanguineti)

1635, Pasqua

279

Travel and lodging (Leonardo Pecchietto)

1635, Santi

139

Travel and lodging (Leonardo Pecchietto)

1636, Pasqua and Santi

241

Travel and lodging (Leonardo Pecchietto)

1636, Santi

130

Travel and lodging (Leonardo Pecchietto)

1637, Apparizione

116

Travel and lodging (Leonardo Pecchietto)

Source: ASCG, Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 678, 679.

VIII. Giovanni Antonio Sauli: a Single ‘Entrepreneur’ at the Fairs (1618–1622)

  • 35 On Sauli’s business activity, see C. Marsilio, Dove il denaro fa denaro..., op. cit., pp. 163–180.

28Giovanni Antonio Sauli, born in Genoa in 1596, was a son of Lorenzo, the Genoese doge between 1599 and 1601.35 The Archivio Durazzo Giustiniani of Genoa contains Giovanni Antonio’s private and commercial archive which has offered us the opportunity to follow his affairs at the Genoese exchange fairs. Thanks to the account books of his two agents (Pier Antonio and Ottavio Zenoggio), we can examine his activity at the fairs’ market.

Figure 7. Giovanni Antonio Sauli’s agents (Pier Antonio and Ottavio Zenoggio): commissions expressed in Genoese lira (1618–1622)

Figure 7. Giovanni Antonio Sauli’s agents (Pier Antonio and Ottavio Zenoggio): commissions expressed in Genoese lira (1618–1622)

Source: Archivio Durazzo Giustiniani di Genova (ADGG), Sauli, reg. 1288.

29It must be underlined that the commissions gained by the two procuratori di fiera referred to a single investor. In fact, in Sauli’s scartafacci di fiera the only fees counted are his own and an average amount of at least £50 per fair represents a remarkable volume of letters of exchange traded at every fair.

IX. The Portuguese Hombres de Negocio: the Asientos (1626–1647)

  • 36 A classical work on the Portuguese conversos is: J. Lúcio de Azevedo, História dos cristãos novos p (...)

30The deficit of the Spanish Hacienda Real was growing enormously year by year and the situation became unbearable during the first years of the reign of Philip IV. The quiebra of 1627 – a very important decree of bankruptcy – was a real turning point. It is clear that the goal of the count-duke of Olivares was to weaken the Genoese operators – strong and long-established leaders of the market – and to oblige the marranos bankers to take the risk of serving the new king as ‘good vassals’.36 The payment system of the asientistas was built through a socialization procedure where neither automatism nor anonymity were possible; in this framework a small number of individuals recognized one another by reason of their family or community ties and exchanged favours in business.

  • 37 F. Ruiz Martín, ‘La banca en España hasta 1782’, in F. Ruiz Martín et al., El Banco de España: una (...)
  • 38 J. C. Boyajian, Portuguese bankers at the court of Spain 1626–1650, New Brunswick (NJ), Rutgers Uni (...)
  • 39 N. Bröens, Monarquía y capital mercantil: Felipe IV y las redes comerciales portuguesas 1627–1635, (...)
  • 40 C. Sanz Ayán, ‘Presencia y fortuna de los hombres de negocios genoveses durante la crisis hispana d (...)
  • 41 A clear presentation of the difficult management of the credit market in the Flanders during the fi (...)

31We must also remember that from 1580 to 1640 Spain and Portugal were part of the same dynastic union, the so-called Iberian Union. Ruiz Martín in his work La Banca en España hasta 178237 also argued that the crucial role of the conversos bankers should be studied, taking into account the links that they had with the emporium universalis (Amsterdam) and Antwerp, particularly during the years of 1627–1647. In contrast, the historiography on the Portuguese bankers is confined to a few seminal works by Boyajian,38 Bröens39 and Sanz Ayán,40 which attempt to examine the eminent role of the Portuguese operators in Spanish finance. These studies underline the increasing capacity of the Portuguese to manage and solve fundamental financial, material and logistical problems in the execution of their loan contracts.41

32Consequently, the international dimension of Portuguese finance has already been firmly established. What it is not completely clear yet is the form of the Portuguese bankers’ organization, the operative networks of their personnel, agents and commissioners. When, after 1626, the Portuguese bankers began to finance Philip IV they did not have much to do with the traditional credit market. The role of the Portuguese operators might have stemmed from their increasing capacity to manage and solve financial, material and logistical problems in the execution of their loan contracts in different parts of the continent. What we need to investigate is the inner motivation for the Portuguese entrance into the world of finance. In fact, the means that these operative networks used need to be explained, particularly their ability to control flows of precious metals and to respond to the complex systems of conversion from silver to gold which was the monetary mechanism that supported the effectiveness of the asientos.

33We have collected the annual average interest rates on the loans of the Portuguese bankers to the Spanish crown.

Figure 8. Portuguese asientos: average interest rates (one-year)

Figure 8. Portuguese asientos: average interest rates (one-year)

Source: J. C. Boyajian, Portuguese bankers at the court of Spain 1626–1650, New Brunswick (NJ), Rutgers University Press, 1983; idem, ‘The Portuguese bankers and the international payments mechanism, 1626–1647’, doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1978.

34It is important to underline that these data are incomplete – we are working on some new evidence recently collected at the Archivo General de Simancas – but they already suggest a clear trend for the Portuguese investments during the Iberian Union, in particular for the years between the two most serious crises (1627 and 1647) of the Hacienda Real.

Notes

1 J. A. Van Houtte, ‘Bruges et Anvers marchés “nationaux” ou “internationaux” du XIVe au XVIsiècle’, Revue du Nord, 34, 1952, pp. 89–109; idem, ‘The rise and decline of the market of Bruges’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser., 19, 1966, pp. 29–47; H. Van Der Wee, The growth of the Antwerp market and the European economy (14th–16th centuries), 3 vols., Louvain, 1963; H. Van der Wee and J. Materné, ‘Antwerp as a world market in the 16th and 17h centuries’, Antwerp: story of a metropolis 16th–17th century, Gand, J. Van der Stock, 1993, pp. 19–31.

2 E. Cornaert, ‘Caractères et mouvement des foires internationales au Moyen Âge et au XVIsiècle’, in Studi in onore di Armando Sapori, I, Milan, 1957, pp. 357–371; C. Verlinden, ‘Mercati e fiere’, in M. M. Postan, E. E. Rich and E. Miller (ed.), Storia economica di Cambridge. III: Le città e la politica nel Medioevo, Turin, 1978, pp. 137–175.

3 R. L. Reynolds, ‘Genoese trade in the late 12th century, particularly in cloth, from the fairs of Champagne’, Journal of Economic and Business History, 3 (3), 1931, pp. 362–381.

4 The most important works are: R.-H. Bautier, The fairs of Champagne, in R. Cameron (ed.), Essays in French economic history, Homewood (Ill.), Irwin, 1970, pp. 42–63; R. D. Face, ‘Techniques of business in the trade between the fairs of Champagne and the south of Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries’, Economic History Review, 10, 1958, pp. 427–439.

5 S. Epstein, ‘Fairs, towns, and states in Renaissance Europe’, in S. Cavaciocchi (ed.), Fiere e mercati nella integrazione delle economie europee secc. XIIIXVIII. Atti della XXXII settimana di studi dell’Istituto internazionale di storia economica F. Datini di Prato, Florence, Atti delle Settimani di studio e altri convegni, ser. II, 32, 2001, pp. 71–90; idem, ‘Regional fairs, institutional innovation, and economic growth in late medieval Europe’, Economic History Review, 47, 1994, pp. 459–462.

6 M. Cassandro, ‘Credito e banca in Italia tra Medioevo e Rinascimento’, in Credito e sviluppo economico in Italia dal Medioevo all’età contemporanea, Vérone, SISE, 1988, pp. 131–145.

7 M. Cassandro, ‘Strategia degli affari dei mercanti-banchieri italiani alle fiere internazionali d’Oltralpe (secoli XIV–XVI)’, in Aspetti della vita economica medievale, Florence, Università degli studi di Firenze, Istituto di storia economica, 1985, pp. 140–150; idem, ‘Uomini d’affari ed economia delle fiere tra XIII e XVI secolo’, in S. Cavaciocchi (ed.), Fiere…, op. cit., pp. 755–778.

8 M.-T. Boyer-Xambeau, G. Deleplace and L. Gillard, Banchieri e principi. Moneta e credito nell’Europa del Cinquecento, Turin, Einaudi, 1991; A. Orlandi, Le Grand Parti. Fiorentini a Lione e il debito pubblico francese nel XVI secolo, Florence, Olschki, 2002.

9 M. Cassandro, ‘Le fiere nell’economia europea medievale e della prima età moderna’, Studi storici Luigi Simeoni, 51, 2001, pp. 9–27.

10 G. Giacchero, Il Seicento e le compere di San Giorgio, Genoa, Sagep, 1979, p. 39 and p. 59; D. Gioffrè, Genoa et les foires de change: de Lyon à Besançon, Paris, SEVPEN, 1960, p. 117.

11 J. G. da Silva, Banque et crédit en Italie au XVIIsiècle, Paris, Klincksieck, 1969. For a bibliography on the Genoese fairs of the seventeenth century, see C. Marsilio, Dove il denaro fa denaro. Gli operatori finanziari genovesi nelle fiere di cambio del XVII secolo, Novi Ligure, Città del Silenzio, 2008. Another important study on the ‘Bisenzone’ fairs is L. Pezzolo and G. Tattara, ‘Una fiera senza luogo: was Bisenzone an international capital market in 16th century Italy’, Journal of Economic History, 68, 2008, pp. 1098–1122. See also G. Felloni, Gli investimenti finanziari genovesi in Europa tra il Seicento e la Restaurazione, Milan, Giuffrè, 1971; idem, ‘Asientos, juros y ferias de cambio (1541–1675)’, in A. Otazu (ed.), Dinero y crédito, Madrid, Moneda y Crédito, 1978, pp. 335–359.

12 For a general analysis of the financial market of early modern Europe, see L. Neal, ‘How it all began: the monetary and financial architecture of Europe during the first global capital markets 1648–1815’, Financial History Review, 7 (2), 2000, pp. 117–140.

13 ‘Bisenzone’ is the toponym (coming from Besançon) frequently used also in the seventeenth century.

14 On the Genoese bankers operating in Spain during the reign of Philip IV, see C. Álvarez Nogal, Los banqueros de Felipe IV y los metales preciosos americanos 1621–1665, Madrid, Banco de España, 1997; idem, El crédito de la monarquía hispánica durante el reinado de Felipe IV, Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y Léon, Consejeria de Educacion y Cultura, 1997.

15 A. Castillo Pintado, ‘Los juros de Castilla. Apogeo y fin de un instrumento de crédito’, Hispania, 23, 1963, pp. 43–70; idem, ‘Mecanismos de base de la hacienda de Felipe IV’, Historia de España, vol. XXV: La España de Felipe IV. El gobierno de la monarquía, la crisis de 1640 y el fracaso de la hegemonía europea, Madrid, R. Menéndez Pidal, 1982, pp. 217–255.

16 G. Canali, Il magistrato mercantile di Bolzano e gli statuti delle fiere, Florence, s.n., 1942. The most recent works are: M. A. Denzel, Die Bozner Messen und ihr Zahlungsverkehr 1633–1850, Bolzano, Verlag-Anst. Athesia, 2006; M. A. Denzel and A. Bonoldi, Bozen im messenetz Europas 17–19 Jahrhundert. Bolzano nel sistema fieristico europeo (secc. XVIIXIX), Bolzano, Verl.-Anst. Athesia, 2007.

17 A copy of the laws of the fair of Bolzano can be found in Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Munich), 4 MERC. 135,8, Privilegium über diejenigen […], 1635. I would like to thank Christof Jeggle who gave me a copy of this document.

18 M. A. Denzel, ‘The system of cashless payment as a basis for the commercial integration of Europe and the world’, in M. A. Denzel (ed.), From commercial communication to commercial integration, Middle Ages to 19th century, Stuttgart, Franz Steiner, 2004, pp. 199–248.

19 R. De Roover, L’évolution de la lettre de change (XIVeXVIIe siècles), Paris, A. Colin, 1953.

20 C. Marsilio, ‘“Four times a year for so many years”. The Italian exchange fairs during the 16th–17th century: comparing financial institutions’, Bankhistorisches Archiv. Banking and Finance in Historical Perspective, 36 (2), 2010, pp. 151–165.

21 The most interesting ‘manuale di mercatura’ dealing with the exchange fairs is: Giovanni Domenico Peri, Il negotiante, one volume divided into four parts: Il negotiante di G D. Peri genovese, part I, Genoa, 1638; Il negotiante di G D. Peri genovese, part II, Genoa, 1647; I frutti di Albaro, overo Il negotiante, part III, Genoa, 1651; Il negotiante di G D. Peri genovese, part IV, Venice, 1655.

22 See in particular G. D. Peri, Il negotiante, part I, op. cit., pp. 73–84.

23 The best price lists are pointed out in J. J. McCusker and C. Gravesteijn, The beginning of commercial and financial journalism. The commodity price currents, exchange rate currents, and money currents of early modern Europe, Amsterdam, Centraal Boekhuis, 1991.

24 G. Felloni, Moneta, credito e banche in Europa: un millennio di storia, Genoa, Brigati, 1999, p. 94.

25 I would like to thank Prof. Wolfgang Kaiser for his kind support during my research in the archives of Florence and Roma.

26 In the Bartolommei’s papers there are two complete series of account books of the Piacenza fairs: the first – which has been used for this chapter (1601–1611) – and a second for the years 1633–1649 (ASFi, Bartolommei, regg. 1645, 1646, 1647, and 1648).

27 There are at least two different editions of the laws of the Genoese exchange fairs: Capitoli e ordini delle fere di Besenzone, che si fanno al presente in la città di Piacenza. Con li quali dette fere, e li negotij di cambij che si fanno in esse si doveranno reggere, e governare, da tutti li Banchieri trattanti, e negotianti in quelle doveranno esser inviolabilmente osservare in tutto, come in appresso si dirà, Genova, 1622, and Capitoli e ordini delle fere di Besenzone, che si fanno al presente in la città di Piacenza, ristampate di novo con le gionte fatte dal Serenissimo Senato dell’anno 1622 sin al presente. Con li quali dette fere, e li negotij di cambij che si fanno in esse si doveranno reggere, e governare, e da tutti li Banchieri trattanti, e negotianti in quelle doveranno esser inviolabilmente osservare in tutto, come in appresso si dirà, Genova, 1637. The Florentine edition (used at the fairs of Piacenza after the Genoese ‘secession’ of 1622) is: Capitoli delle fiere de cambi da farsi nella città di Piacenza, stabiliti al tempo dell’Ill.mo sig. Pietro Mozzi senatore fiorentino, console eletto dalle AA. Sereniss. Di Toscana e dei M. Ill. Ottavio Secchi di Milano e Marco Otti di Venezia consiglieri eletti dalle loro nationi. Fermati con Grazia e Privilegio del Serenissimo Duca di Piacenza e Parma nel 1622. Et al presente distinti in Capitoli con l’aggiunta delle ordinationi fatte da Signori Consolo, Consiglieri, e Trattanti fino a l’anno 1628, Piacenza, 1629. The Venetian edition (used iat the fairs of Verona) is: Capitoli e ordini spettanti all’Ufficio della Casa de’ Mercanti, regolati e presi dal Maggior Consiglio dei XII, Verona, 1639.

28 S. Groppi, L’archivio Saminiati Pazzi, Milano, EGEA, 1990, pp. 84–87. I would like to thank Prof. Franco Saba for his kind help during my research at Bocconi University where these documents are preserved.

29 A more detailed report of the economic and financial investments of the Spinola Company can be found in the forthcoming book by Carlos Álvarez-Nogal on Bartolomé Spinola, Philip IV’s factor general.

30 The conditions of the payments were fully described in detailed letters. In particular it was very important to specify the places and the chronology of these payments.

31 G. Mandich, Le pacte de ricorsa et le marché des changes au XVIIsiècle, Paris, A. Colin, 1953 (for an example of patto di ricorsa, see the appendix); R. Savelli, ‘Between law and morals: interest in the dispute on exchanges during the 16th century’, in V. Piergiovanni (ed.), The courts and the development of commercial law, Berlin, 1987, pp. 39–102; B. Giustiniani, Breve trattato della continuatione de’ cambi in cui si esaminano alcune moderne foggie di cambiare, Genoa, 1619.

32 The mediatori dei cambi used by the Spinola Company are: Leonardo Pittaluga, Pier Antonio Rolla, Agostino Maggiolo, Agostino Verdura, Giovanni Giacomo and Pietro Vitale, Raffaele and Giovanni Battista Sangiacomo, Raffaele Pino, Giovanni Giacomo Boasi, Pietro Strigella, Cristoforo Luxardo, Geronimo Carriola, Emanuele Cortegiani, Nicolò Rosso, Giuliano Spinola, Agostino Orsino and Geronimo Gardano. See C. Álvarez-Nogal, L. Lo Basso and C. Marsilio, ‘La rete finanziaria della famiglia Spinola: Spagna, Genova e le fiere di cambio 1610–1656’, Quaderni storici, 124 (1), 2007, pp. 97–110, in particular pp. 102–103.

33 Giorgio Sanguineti in association with Giacinto Costa and Geronimo Vassallo.

34 Archivio di Stato di Roma (ASR), Odescalchi, feudo di Bracciano, reg. XXXI.E.12, register of letters of Papirio Odescalchi (1632–1633).

35 On Sauli’s business activity, see C. Marsilio, Dove il denaro fa denaro..., op. cit., pp. 163–180.

36 A classical work on the Portuguese conversos is: J. Lúcio de Azevedo, História dos cristãos novos portugueses, Lisbon, A. M. Teixeira, 1921. Recent works are: L. M. E. Shaw, ‘The Inquisition and the Portuguese economy’, Journal of European Economic History, 18, 1989, pp. 415–431; B. López Belinchón, Honra, liberdad y hacienda: hombres de negocios y judios sefardíes, Alcalá de Henares, Instituto internacional de estudios sefardíes y andalusíes, Universidad de Alcalá, 2001.

37 F. Ruiz Martín, ‘La banca en España hasta 1782’, in F. Ruiz Martín et al., El Banco de España: una historia económica, Madrid, Banco de España, 1970, pp. 1–196. See also a more recent study: F. Ruiz Martín, Las finanzas de la monarquía hispánica en tiempos de Felipe IV 1621–1665, Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, 1990.

38 J. C. Boyajian, Portuguese bankers at the court of Spain 1626–1650, New Brunswick (NJ), Rutgers University Press, 1983. In his PhD dissertation Boyajian gives much documental evidence to support the Portuguese bankers’ network (J. C. Boyajian, ‘The Portuguese bankers and the international payments mechanism, 1626–1647’, doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1978).

39 N. Bröens, Monarquía y capital mercantil: Felipe IV y las redes comerciales portuguesas 1627–1635, Madrid, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1989.

40 C. Sanz Ayán, ‘Presencia y fortuna de los hombres de negocios genoveses durante la crisis hispana de 1640’, Hispania, 65, 2005, pp. 91–114.

41 A clear presentation of the difficult management of the credit market in the Flanders during the first half of the seventeenth century can be found in: M. A. Echevarría Bacigalupe, Flandes y la monarquía hispánica 1500–1713, Madrid, Silex Ediciones, 1998, in particular pp. 245–331.

Table des illustrations

Titre Figure 1. Antonio Maria Bartolommei’s agent (procuratore Vincenzo Bartolini): commissions paid at Piacenza fairs (1601–1611). Commissions expressed in scudi di marche
Légende Source: Archivio di Stato di Firenze (ASFi), Bartolommei, regg. 145-146-147.
URL http://books.openedition.org/igpde/docannexe/image/3983/img-1.png
Fichier image/png, 86k
Titre Figure 2. Tornaquinci Company’s agent: Luca Tornaquinci’s commissions at Piacenza fairs (1624–1625). Commissions expressed in scudi di marche
Légende Source: Archivio Saminiati Pazzi di Milano (ASPMi), regg. 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184.
URL http://books.openedition.org/igpde/docannexe/image/3983/img-2.png
Fichier image/png, 53k
Titre Figure 3. Spinola’s asientos expressed in Spanish escudos (1630–1642)
Légende Source: Archivio Storico del Comune di Genova (ASCG), Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 683, 686, 687, 688.
URL http://books.openedition.org/igpde/docannexe/image/3983/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 196k
Titre Figure 4. Commissions of Spinola’s agents at the Italian exchange fairs (1631–1647): Novi (Giovanni Tommaso Romairone), Piacenza (Giovanni Battista Agliati) and Verona (Bernardino Benzio). Commissions expressed in Genoese lira
Légende Source: ASCG, Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 686, 687, 688.
URL http://books.openedition.org/igpde/docannexe/image/3983/img-4.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 317k
Titre Figure 5. Spinola’s operating expenses at the fairs expressed in Genoese lira (1631–1643)
Légende Source: ASCG, Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 686.
URL http://books.openedition.org/igpde/docannexe/image/3983/img-5.png
Fichier image/png, 67k
Titre Figure 6. The Sanguineti’s agents (Lelio Sanguineti and Lelio Picchetti): commissions expressed in Genoese lira (1634–1655)
Légende Source: ASCG, Albergo dei Poveri, regg. 678, 679.
URL http://books.openedition.org/igpde/docannexe/image/3983/img-6.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 465k
Titre Figure 8. Portuguese asientos: average interest rates (one-year)
Légende Source: J. C. Boyajian, Portuguese bankers at the court of Spain 1626–1650, New Brunswick (NJ), Rutgers University Press, 1983; idem, ‘The Portuguese bankers and the international payments mechanism, 1626–1647’, doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1978.
URL http://books.openedition.org/igpde/docannexe/image/3983/img-7.png
Fichier image/png, 26k

Auteur

A History graduate of the University of Genoa (Italy), Claudio Marsilio has a PhD in Economic and Social History from the Bocconi University of Milan (Italy). He is a specialist in the economic and financial history of early modern Europe. He is a Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Postdoctoral Fellow linked to the Gabinete de História Económica e Social (GHES) – Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG) of the Universidade de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal). He has recently published: ‘Lisbon, London, or Genoa? Three alternative destinations for the Spanish silver of Philip IV (1627–1650)’, in G. Depeyrot (ed.), Three conferences on international monetary history, Wetteren, Moneta, 2013, pp. 399–413; ‘Genoese finance, 1348–1700’, in G. Caprio (ed.), Handbook of key global financial markets, institutions, and infrastructure, vol. 1, Oxford, Elsevier, 2012, pp. 123–132; O dinheiro morreu. Paz á sua alma danada’. Gli operatori finanziari del XVII secolo tra investimenti e speculazioni, Palermo, Associazione Mediterranea, 2012.

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