Imperial Ambition in the Early Modern Mediterranean: Genoese Merchants and the Spanish Crown
Cambridge University Press, 9/18/2014
EAN 9781107062368, ISBN10: 1107062365
Hardcover, 310 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
This book examines the alliance between the Spanish Crown and Genoese merchant bankers in southern Italy throughout the early modern era, when Spain and Genoa developed a symbiotic economic relationship, undergirded by a cultural and spiritual alliance. Analyzing early modern imperialism, migration, and trade, this book shows that the spiritual entente between the two nations was mainly informed by the religious division of the Mediterranean Sea. The Turkish threat in the Mediterranean reinforced the commitment of both the Spanish Crown and the Genoese merchants to Christianity. Spain's imperial strategy was reinforced by its willingness to acculturate to southern Italy through organized beneficence, representation at civic ceremonies, and spiritual guidance during religious holidays.
1. Empires of the Renaissance, 1453–1650
the Genoese response to shifting alliances in the Mediterranean
2. Genoese emporium and Spanish imperium in the Kingdom of Naples
3. Commercial ascension through silk
Genoese artisans, merchants, bakers
4. Achieving favorite nation status
the economic journey of the Genoese
5. The Genoese merchants
between the viceroys' buon governo and Habsburg expansion
6. Holy Week
the Genoese in the ceremonial triptych
7. The Genoese eye of the storm
spiritual competition in church, sea, and grave
8. The Genoese participation in charitable institutions.