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" Across an Open Sea. Mediterranean Networks and Italian Trade in an Era of Calamity "
Romney David Smith
Meyerson, Mark
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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804990
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| Doc. No
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TL49828
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| Call number
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2026754357; 10190138
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| Main Entry
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Hassan, Eman
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| Title & Author
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Across an Open Sea. Mediterranean Networks and Italian Trade in an Era of Calamity\ Romney David SmithMeyerson, Mark
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| College
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University of Toronto (Canada)
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| Date
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2016
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| field of study
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Medieval Studies
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| student score
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2016
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| Page No
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290
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| Note
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Committee members: Caskey, Jill; Everett, Nick
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| Note
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Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-0-355-77127-5
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| Abstract
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In the eleventh century, commercial dominance of the Mediterranean passed from the Muslim and Jewish traders of the House of Islam to the Italians of such maritime cities as Pisa or Amalfi. Although the outcome of this economic transition is well-known, the purpose of this study is to consider the mechanisms that motored Italian takeover. An examination of the characteristics of the trade network, both before and after the economic transition, finds that little structural change occurred; it is therefore argued that Italian merchants operated in conformity with the commercial paradigms of the existing Muslim and Jewish trade network, which are known to us from the Cairo Geniza. It was only the coincidence of major political failure in the large Mediterranean polities that enabled a realignment of Italian merchants from participants to dominant players in the existing trade network. This political failure, which I term “the great calamity,” saw the end of the Caliphate of Cordoba and left both Byzantium and the Fatimid Caliphate much reduced, a situation which rebounded to the advantage of smaller polities. Among them, the city of Pisa serves as a test case for this study’s assertions about Italian integration into the Mediterranean network of Muslim and Jewish traders.
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| Subject
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Art history; Economic history; Medieval history
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| Descriptor
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Communication and the arts;Social sciences;Amalfi;Fatimid;Geniza;Mediterranean region;Merchant;Pisa
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| Added Entry
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Meyerson, Mark
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Medieval StudiesUniversity of Toronto (Canada)
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