Les merciers : une histoire sociale et économique de marchands moyens dans une capitale européenne du luxe (Venise, XVIe siècle)

Abstract

In 16th century Venice, new consumption patterns and the emergence of a luxury economy were part of the economic changes observed at that time. During the same period, mercers become a key figure in commercial exchanges of all kinds, as suppliers to the princely courts, as shopkeepers or itinerant merchants. All of them, regardless of their individual importance, are united within a single corporation, the haberdashery, whose existence dates back to the 13th century. Among this heterogeneous group, we find principally mercers that are new to the trade. They come from the “middle” strata of society and most of them were not born in Venice, but in Terra-Ferma. These "new men" often come from Bergamo and Lombardy and manage to acquire the privilege of citizenship. Some of them are involved in international trade, while others, on a more modest scale, make a living from petty trade and handicrafts. During this same period, haberdashery became a corporate structure exercising institutional control over several distinct trades. In fact, several craft activities were directly placed within the authority of the haberdashery. In short, it is a mixed agglomerate dominated, monitored and administered by the haberdashers, at the service of their interests. The aim of this work is to highlight the investment of the non-noble merchants in commercial affairs, questioning the role and place of haberdashery in the Venetian economy and society. The careful study of individual trajectories and collective actions aims at understanding how the actors of haberdashery, individually and collectively, establish themselves in the city, whether or not they succeed in increasing or not, whether or not they convert their economic capital into social capital. We shall also investigate how their economic and social role is reflected in the urban space.