Investigating transnationalism and mercantilism in Austria
In January 2023 Felicia travelled to Austria. She first spent several days in the Vienna archives, both the beautiful old Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv, and the modern Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv which contains the Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv. In these she was able to trace the activities of a multinational group of entrepreneurs and migrants from across the early modern Habsburg empire who combined Austrian state support with private, largely Flemish finance and mobile technological expertise notably from Hamburg to set up a vast proto-industrial sugar refinery business in Trieste and Fiume in modern-day Italy and Croatia. There, they relied on imported migrant skill to process raw, slave-produced Atlantic sugar which the merchant-capitalists in charge imported across the Mediterranean from various European ports to their plants in Trieste and Fiume, before exporting the refined end-product to Vienna and further afield.
From Vienna Felicia then went to Linz, where she was invited to take part in the conference “Decentring Mercantilism II. Commerce, economic policies and local governance in two polycentric Empires: the Holy Roman Empire and the Hispanic Monarchy (17th and 18th centuries)”, organised by Klemens Kaps (Johannes Kepler Universität Linz), Manuel Herrero Sánchez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla). The two-day conference had a packed programme with two keynotes by Klaus Weber and Regina Grafe, and a fantastic range of researchers who investigated the intersection of the regulation of trade, production, consumption and finance. With many enlightening discussions and wonderful hospitality, including a spectacular conference dinner at Linz’s castle overlooking the city, this was a brilliant event. I’m truly grateful to Klemens for including me and allowing me to present my research on the transnational networks underlying the “Prussian” East India Companies, and on the vital interconnection with mercantilist state policies that sustained them.
Programme
Thursday, 26th January 2023
Manuel Herrero Sánchez/Klemens Kaps: Welcome address and introductory remarks
Keynote I
Klaus Weber (Universität Viadrina Frankfurt an der Oder): Superposed layers of conflicting and competing interests: Regional, territorial, and imperial commercial spaces in the Holy Roman Empire and Spain during the 17th and 18th century
Panel I
Chair: Michael Adelsberger (Vienna University)
Christof Jeggle (Bamberg): Decentering Mercantilism and Luxury: The Economies of "superfluous goods".
Benoît Maréchaux (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) / Francisco Cebreiro (Universidad Complutense de Madrid): Collaborative Mercantilism: the Spanish Crown, Mediterranean cities and monetary circulation (17th-18th Centuries)
Daniele Andreozzi (Università degli Studi di Trieste): Rice War and Flags. The clash between mercantilisms in the Northern Adriatic (18th century)
Magnus Ressel (Goethe-University Frankfurt): The Dream of the European Transversale. 18th century Attempts to Connect the North Sea and the Mediterranean and their Impact on the Continental Economy
Friday, 27th January 2023
Keynote II
Regina Grafe (European University Institute): Bargaining for mercantilism in the Spanish Empire
Panel II
Chair: Catia Brilli
Xabier Lamikiz (Universidad del País Vasco): Spectacular exaggerations: contemporary statistical assessments of the Carrera de Indias in the second half of the seventeenth century
Manuel Herrero Sánchez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide): “Los desórdenes de las Indias son la verdadera causa de los nuestros” The reform of Spain’s overseas trade during the 2nd half of the 17th century
Ana Crespo Solana (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid): From José de Veitia to Gerónimo de Uztáriz: The long transition of the board of Indies trade and the transformation of the Spanish Armada (1680-1725)
Mona Garloff (Universität Innsbruck): Book trade regulations in the Holy Roman Empire between imperial and state territories’ policies in the early 18th century
Panel III
Chair: Marion Dotter (Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München)
Felix Töppel (Universität Viadrina Frankfurt an der Oder): The Partition of Poland-Lithuania and Prussia’s Hispanic Trade
Klemens Kaps (Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz): Local and regional interests in Mercantilist regulations of a trans-regional commodity chain: Linen cloth between Habsburg Central Europe and the Spanish Atlantic in the 18th century
Daniel Muñoz Navarro (Universitat de Valencia): Rise and fall of Spanish silks in the colonial market. Bourbon reformism, local entrepreneurship and economic development during the 18th century
Panel IV
Chair: Ana Crespo Solana
Felicia Gottmann (Northumbria University): Frictions, factions, and identities: the multinational Prussian East India Companies in 1750s Emden and their socio-economic fault lines
Giovanna Tonelli (Università degli Studi di Milano Statale): You “remain free to sell to the highest bidder without any impediment”. Foreign trade circuits and custom reform in Lombardy (18th Century)
Catia Brilli (Università degli Studi dell'Insubria): Genoese traders and mercantilist policies in the Spanish monarchy. Limits and opportunities (second half of the 18th Century)
Arnaud Bartolomei (Université Côte d'Azur): Network and institutions in the commercial strategies of 'mercaderes de Mexico'. The Francisco Yraeta case (1767-1796)
The conference was supported by:
Fritz-Thyssen Stiftung
Forschungsprojekt “ Connectors between a Polycentric Empire and Global Markets, 1713-1815”, P 28612-G32 (Einzelprojekt des Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung – FWF)
REXPUBLICA Res Publica Monarquica. La Monarquía Hispánica, una estructura imperial policéntrica de repúblicas urbanas. Proyecto de investigación del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades - PGC2018-095224-B-I00
La Monarquía Hispánica, la circulación de los metales preciosos y la globalización financiera en el Mediterráneo (1568-1798) [HISFIMED) - Proyecto de Generación de Conocimiento 2021 financiado por el Ministerio Español de Ciencia e Innovación (Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023) - PID2021-124500NA-I00.
Grupo PAIDI Europa, el mundo mediterráneo y su difusión atlántica (HUM-680). Junta de Andalucía.
