Joseph Shatzmiller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691156996
- eISBN:
- 9781400846092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691156996.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter exposes members of the clergy in need of credit for their monasteries and churches. They were prepared to give as securities objects that were considered sacred. By relinquishing such ...
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This chapter exposes members of the clergy in need of credit for their monasteries and churches. They were prepared to give as securities objects that were considered sacred. By relinquishing such objects they ignored papal and ecclesiastical councils' prohibitions. The chapter looks at how the emerging credit economy in the High Middle Ages required solid assurance and at times collaterals of great value. Church property comes immediately to mind because most artistic creativity was commissioned by ecclesiastics and religious institutions, right up to the High Renaissance period and even beyond. Despite the ire and unhappiness that occurred between the Jewish and Christian financiers, the necessities of life had the upper hand, and protesting voices were calmed.Less
This chapter exposes members of the clergy in need of credit for their monasteries and churches. They were prepared to give as securities objects that were considered sacred. By relinquishing such objects they ignored papal and ecclesiastical councils' prohibitions. The chapter looks at how the emerging credit economy in the High Middle Ages required solid assurance and at times collaterals of great value. Church property comes immediately to mind because most artistic creativity was commissioned by ecclesiastics and religious institutions, right up to the High Renaissance period and even beyond. Despite the ire and unhappiness that occurred between the Jewish and Christian financiers, the necessities of life had the upper hand, and protesting voices were calmed.
Jay Sexton
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281039
- eISBN:
- 9780191712753
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281039.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
The United States was a debtor nation in the mid-19th century, with half of its national debt held overseas. Lacking the resources to develop the nation and to fund the wars necessary to expand and ...
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The United States was a debtor nation in the mid-19th century, with half of its national debt held overseas. Lacking the resources to develop the nation and to fund the wars necessary to expand and then preserve it, the United States looked across the Atlantic for investment capital. The need to obtain foreign capital greatly influenced American foreign policy, principally relations with Britain. The intersection of finance and diplomacy was particularly evident during the Civil War when both the North and South integrated attempts to procure loans from European banks into their larger international strategies. Furthermore, the financial needs of the United States (and the Confederacy) imparted significant political power to an elite group of London-based financiers who became intimately involved in American foreign relations during this period. This study explores and assesses how the United State's need for capital influenced its foreign relations in the tumultuous years wedged between the two great financial crises of the 19th century, 1837 to 1873. Drawing on the unused archives of London banks and the papers of statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic, this work illuminates our understanding of mid-19th-century American foreign relations by highlighting how financial considerations influenced the formation of foreign policy and functioned as a peace factor in Anglo-American relations. This study also analyses a crucial, but ignored, dimension of the Civil War — the efforts of both the North and the South to attract the support of European financiers. Though foreign contributions to each side failed to match the hopes of Union and Confederate leaders, the financial diplomacy of the Civil War shaped the larger foreign policy strategies of both sides and contributed to both the preservation of British neutrality and the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy.Less
The United States was a debtor nation in the mid-19th century, with half of its national debt held overseas. Lacking the resources to develop the nation and to fund the wars necessary to expand and then preserve it, the United States looked across the Atlantic for investment capital. The need to obtain foreign capital greatly influenced American foreign policy, principally relations with Britain. The intersection of finance and diplomacy was particularly evident during the Civil War when both the North and South integrated attempts to procure loans from European banks into their larger international strategies. Furthermore, the financial needs of the United States (and the Confederacy) imparted significant political power to an elite group of London-based financiers who became intimately involved in American foreign relations during this period. This study explores and assesses how the United State's need for capital influenced its foreign relations in the tumultuous years wedged between the two great financial crises of the 19th century, 1837 to 1873. Drawing on the unused archives of London banks and the papers of statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic, this work illuminates our understanding of mid-19th-century American foreign relations by highlighting how financial considerations influenced the formation of foreign policy and functioned as a peace factor in Anglo-American relations. This study also analyses a crucial, but ignored, dimension of the Civil War — the efforts of both the North and the South to attract the support of European financiers. Though foreign contributions to each side failed to match the hopes of Union and Confederate leaders, the financial diplomacy of the Civil War shaped the larger foreign policy strategies of both sides and contributed to both the preservation of British neutrality and the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy.
Susan Park
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719079474
- eISBN:
- 9781781703335
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719079474.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
This book shows how environmentalists have shaped the world's largest multilateral development lender, investment financier and political risk insurer to take up sustainable development. It ...
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This book shows how environmentalists have shaped the world's largest multilateral development lender, investment financier and political risk insurer to take up sustainable development. It challenges an emerging consensus over international organisational change to argue that international organisations (IOs) are influenced by their social structure and may change their practices to reflect previously antithetical norms such as sustainable development. The text locates sources of organisational change with environmentalists, thus demonstrating the ways in which non-state actors can effect change within large intergovernmental organisations through socialisation. It combines an account of international organisational change with detailed empirical evidence of change in one issue area across three institutions.Less
This book shows how environmentalists have shaped the world's largest multilateral development lender, investment financier and political risk insurer to take up sustainable development. It challenges an emerging consensus over international organisational change to argue that international organisations (IOs) are influenced by their social structure and may change their practices to reflect previously antithetical norms such as sustainable development. The text locates sources of organisational change with environmentalists, thus demonstrating the ways in which non-state actors can effect change within large intergovernmental organisations through socialisation. It combines an account of international organisational change with detailed empirical evidence of change in one issue area across three institutions.
Joseph Shatzmiller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691156996
- eISBN:
- 9781400846092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691156996.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter offers a testimonial to the influence that success had on the development of the aesthetic taste of Jewish financiers. It describes the decorations in an apartment discovered in the ...
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This chapter offers a testimonial to the influence that success had on the development of the aesthetic taste of Jewish financiers. It describes the decorations in an apartment discovered in the mid-1990s in the city of Zurich. In this apartment, between the years 1320 and 1330, lived the family of the exceedingly rich Rabbi Moses ben Menahem, the spiritual leader of the city's small community who is well known today to rabbinic scholars. Today, almost all of the modern scholars' knowledge about the inner life of the Jews of medieval Germany depends on rabbinic writings and on religious objects that survived the centuries, while knowing close to nothing about other trends that were part of their culture.Less
This chapter offers a testimonial to the influence that success had on the development of the aesthetic taste of Jewish financiers. It describes the decorations in an apartment discovered in the mid-1990s in the city of Zurich. In this apartment, between the years 1320 and 1330, lived the family of the exceedingly rich Rabbi Moses ben Menahem, the spiritual leader of the city's small community who is well known today to rabbinic scholars. Today, almost all of the modern scholars' knowledge about the inner life of the Jews of medieval Germany depends on rabbinic writings and on religious objects that survived the centuries, while knowing close to nothing about other trends that were part of their culture.
Antoin E. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198286493
- eISBN:
- 9780191596674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019828649X.003.0013
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
The opposition by the Parliament and the financiers to Law's proposals presented a strong political bloc that made if difficult for Law to develop his ideas at the policy level.
The opposition by the Parliament and the financiers to Law's proposals presented a strong political bloc that made if difficult for Law to develop his ideas at the policy level.
Antoin E. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198286493
- eISBN:
- 9780191596674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019828649X.003.0018
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
Law attempted to keep the System afloat during the Summer of 1720. His growing failure was marked by the return to power of the financier class and the issue of rentes. The problems for the System ...
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Law attempted to keep the System afloat during the Summer of 1720. His growing failure was marked by the return to power of the financier class and the issue of rentes. The problems for the System were further complicated by the outbreak of plague in Marseille. The publication of the French translation of Money and Trade.Less
Law attempted to keep the System afloat during the Summer of 1720. His growing failure was marked by the return to power of the financier class and the issue of rentes. The problems for the System were further complicated by the outbreak of plague in Marseille. The publication of the French translation of Money and Trade.
Guy Rowlands
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199585076
- eISBN:
- 9780191744600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199585076.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Economic History
The coinage manipulations led the government to issue receipts for coin deposits at the mints, at first on a small scale and for limited durations. But after 1701 Mint bills circulated for longer and ...
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The coinage manipulations led the government to issue receipts for coin deposits at the mints, at first on a small scale and for limited durations. But after 1701 Mint bills circulated for longer and longer periods, acting in a hybrid way as both a substitute for coin in Paris and as interest-bearing debt instruments. Under pressure from the major bankers and military treasurers, the government increased the number of such bills to the point where they were crowding out coin. Consequently they came to trade for a fraction of their face value. Efforts to extend Mint bill legal circulation to the rest of the country produced uproar and had disastrous effects on economic transactions and the prices government contractors had to pay. Initial efforts to withdraw the glut of Mint bills failed, and their continued use until late 1712 inflated the costs of exchange and the war effort.Less
The coinage manipulations led the government to issue receipts for coin deposits at the mints, at first on a small scale and for limited durations. But after 1701 Mint bills circulated for longer and longer periods, acting in a hybrid way as both a substitute for coin in Paris and as interest-bearing debt instruments. Under pressure from the major bankers and military treasurers, the government increased the number of such bills to the point where they were crowding out coin. Consequently they came to trade for a fraction of their face value. Efforts to extend Mint bill legal circulation to the rest of the country produced uproar and had disastrous effects on economic transactions and the prices government contractors had to pay. Initial efforts to withdraw the glut of Mint bills failed, and their continued use until late 1712 inflated the costs of exchange and the war effort.
JONATHAN I. ISRAEL
- Published in print:
- 1985
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198219286
- eISBN:
- 9780191678332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198219286.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Religion
The peak of the Jewish influence across early modern Europe was made evident through the proliferation of the ‘Court Jews’. Contrary to how the European Jewish bankers proceeded in a later period, ...
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The peak of the Jewish influence across early modern Europe was made evident through the proliferation of the ‘Court Jews’. Contrary to how the European Jewish bankers proceeded in a later period, this period was headed by an élite of financiers and provisioners who also served as state agents and the leaders of the Jewish communities in Europe. These Jewish court factors usually resided in areas that were relatively far from where they really serve and their interdependence and collaborations enabled their activities to be recognized as more international. In this chapter, we are able to introduce the functions of the court factors, while drawing attention to some of the specific contributions of particular Court Jews such as Samuel Oppenheimer of Heidelberg.Less
The peak of the Jewish influence across early modern Europe was made evident through the proliferation of the ‘Court Jews’. Contrary to how the European Jewish bankers proceeded in a later period, this period was headed by an élite of financiers and provisioners who also served as state agents and the leaders of the Jewish communities in Europe. These Jewish court factors usually resided in areas that were relatively far from where they really serve and their interdependence and collaborations enabled their activities to be recognized as more international. In this chapter, we are able to introduce the functions of the court factors, while drawing attention to some of the specific contributions of particular Court Jews such as Samuel Oppenheimer of Heidelberg.
Hirokazu Miyazaki
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520273474
- eISBN:
- 9780520953956
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520273474.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
For many financial market professionals worldwide, the era of high finance is over. The times in which bankers and financiers were the primary movers and shakers of both economy and society have come ...
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For many financial market professionals worldwide, the era of high finance is over. The times in which bankers and financiers were the primary movers and shakers of both economy and society have come to an abrupt halt. What has this shift meant for the future of capitalism? What has it meant for the future of the financial industry? What about the lives and careers of financial operators who were once driven by utopian visions of economic, social, and personal transformation? And what does it mean for critics of capitalism who have long predicted the end of financial institutions? This book answers these questions through a close examination of the careers and intellectual trajectories of a group of pioneering derivatives traders in Japan during the 1990s and 2000s.Less
For many financial market professionals worldwide, the era of high finance is over. The times in which bankers and financiers were the primary movers and shakers of both economy and society have come to an abrupt halt. What has this shift meant for the future of capitalism? What has it meant for the future of the financial industry? What about the lives and careers of financial operators who were once driven by utopian visions of economic, social, and personal transformation? And what does it mean for critics of capitalism who have long predicted the end of financial institutions? This book answers these questions through a close examination of the careers and intellectual trajectories of a group of pioneering derivatives traders in Japan during the 1990s and 2000s.
JOHN MASON HART
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223240
- eISBN:
- 9780520939295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223240.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter discusses issues concerning the emergence of rivalry in land concessions in Mexico. It explains that when the American financiers, railroad men, and politicians entered Mexico they ...
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This chapter discusses issues concerning the emergence of rivalry in land concessions in Mexico. It explains that when the American financiers, railroad men, and politicians entered Mexico they became enmeshed in land disputes and class hostilities that pre-dated their arrival. It highlights the participation of American military, political, and business leaders in overthrowing the government of Sebastian Lerdo by charging him of corruption and by supporting Porfirio Díaz. This was the first engagement in which the American elite mustered itself against a duly constituted, elected, and internationally recognized government in what is now called the developing world.Less
This chapter discusses issues concerning the emergence of rivalry in land concessions in Mexico. It explains that when the American financiers, railroad men, and politicians entered Mexico they became enmeshed in land disputes and class hostilities that pre-dated their arrival. It highlights the participation of American military, political, and business leaders in overthrowing the government of Sebastian Lerdo by charging him of corruption and by supporting Porfirio Díaz. This was the first engagement in which the American elite mustered itself against a duly constituted, elected, and internationally recognized government in what is now called the developing world.
JOHN MASON HART
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223240
- eISBN:
- 9780520939295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223240.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter examines the role of Americans as ubiquitous financiers in Mexico. Porfirio Díaz was determined to modernize what he believed was a poor and backward country and he viewed the Americans ...
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This chapter examines the role of Americans as ubiquitous financiers in Mexico. Porfirio Díaz was determined to modernize what he believed was a poor and backward country and he viewed the Americans as essential to the task of creating a prosperous and growing nation. Aggressive American capitalists immediately began to move forward by making commitments in various sectors including banking, railroads, technology, resource exploitation, and land ownership in Mexico. These foreign investments made American-Mexican frontier profitable for explorers and traders.Less
This chapter examines the role of Americans as ubiquitous financiers in Mexico. Porfirio Díaz was determined to modernize what he believed was a poor and backward country and he viewed the Americans as essential to the task of creating a prosperous and growing nation. Aggressive American capitalists immediately began to move forward by making commitments in various sectors including banking, railroads, technology, resource exploitation, and land ownership in Mexico. These foreign investments made American-Mexican frontier profitable for explorers and traders.
JOHN MASON HART
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223240
- eISBN:
- 9780520939295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223240.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter focuses on the return of American financiers to Mexico. During the 1980s and the 1990s Mexico suffered economic stagnation and was forced to adopt the strategy of selling private ...
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This chapter focuses on the return of American financiers to Mexico. During the 1980s and the 1990s Mexico suffered economic stagnation and was forced to adopt the strategy of selling private industries and encourage free trade with the U.S. The privatization of most of Mexico's state-owned enterprises and the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) brought the largest U.S. firms back to the Mexican marketplace. After this the financial relationship between Mexico and the United States continued to deepen and broaden. Another issue that propelled Mexico to the forefront of American attention once again was the campaign against drug trafficking.Less
This chapter focuses on the return of American financiers to Mexico. During the 1980s and the 1990s Mexico suffered economic stagnation and was forced to adopt the strategy of selling private industries and encourage free trade with the U.S. The privatization of most of Mexico's state-owned enterprises and the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) brought the largest U.S. firms back to the Mexican marketplace. After this the financial relationship between Mexico and the United States continued to deepen and broaden. Another issue that propelled Mexico to the forefront of American attention once again was the campaign against drug trafficking.
MaríA E. Montoya
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520227446
- eISBN:
- 9780520926486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520227446.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
The dawn of the 1870s brought an end to the Colfax Country troubles, a patent from Congress, and the sale of the company to a new set of directors. However, the decade of the 1880s brought a little ...
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The dawn of the 1870s brought an end to the Colfax Country troubles, a patent from Congress, and the sale of the company to a new set of directors. However, the decade of the 1880s brought a little relief to the beleaguered company or the weary settlers. The Maxwell Land Grant Company's owners had spent most of the 1870s using their influence to fix problems external to the grant itself. They had influenced congressmen, federally appointed officials, and financiers in an effort to secure clear rights to the property they believed rightfully belonged solely to them. Yet they had never managed to make real profits on the enterprise. In 1880, the Dutch investors took control of the company, hoping to bring themselves financial solvency. The company's managers, particularly Harry Whigham, the company's new receiver and assistant secretary, believed they would finally make a profit on their New Mexico enterprise.Less
The dawn of the 1870s brought an end to the Colfax Country troubles, a patent from Congress, and the sale of the company to a new set of directors. However, the decade of the 1880s brought a little relief to the beleaguered company or the weary settlers. The Maxwell Land Grant Company's owners had spent most of the 1870s using their influence to fix problems external to the grant itself. They had influenced congressmen, federally appointed officials, and financiers in an effort to secure clear rights to the property they believed rightfully belonged solely to them. Yet they had never managed to make real profits on the enterprise. In 1880, the Dutch investors took control of the company, hoping to bring themselves financial solvency. The company's managers, particularly Harry Whigham, the company's new receiver and assistant secretary, believed they would finally make a profit on their New Mexico enterprise.
Clement M. Henry and Rodney Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748618361
- eISBN:
- 9780748653089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748618361.003.0111
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This book has examined the conditions that may facilitate the growth of what appears to be a distinctively Islamic variety of capitalist development, identifying self-consciously Islamist financiers ...
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This book has examined the conditions that may facilitate the growth of what appears to be a distinctively Islamic variety of capitalist development, identifying self-consciously Islamist financiers and trying to discover the conditions under which they best thrive. It has found that distinctive financial practices seemed to mobilise the capital which would have otherwise stayed hidden in the mattresses of the MENA region. The processes of economic globalisation, coupled with the steady accumulation of Islamic capital, were deemed to eventually overcome the present barriers to the integration and promotion of a more political pluralism in the region. The studies in this book have identified Islamic capitalism as a natural evolution of gentle commerce. This chapter argues that if big international business can polish the manners of the Bush Administration sufficiently to avert a clash of globalisations, this will aid Islamic finance to promote the steady structural transformation of the region that the essays of this book have envisioned.Less
This book has examined the conditions that may facilitate the growth of what appears to be a distinctively Islamic variety of capitalist development, identifying self-consciously Islamist financiers and trying to discover the conditions under which they best thrive. It has found that distinctive financial practices seemed to mobilise the capital which would have otherwise stayed hidden in the mattresses of the MENA region. The processes of economic globalisation, coupled with the steady accumulation of Islamic capital, were deemed to eventually overcome the present barriers to the integration and promotion of a more political pluralism in the region. The studies in this book have identified Islamic capitalism as a natural evolution of gentle commerce. This chapter argues that if big international business can polish the manners of the Bush Administration sufficiently to avert a clash of globalisations, this will aid Islamic finance to promote the steady structural transformation of the region that the essays of this book have envisioned.
Edward G. Gray
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300110555
- eISBN:
- 9780300137811
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300110555.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
The chapter discusses John Ledyard's entry into business under the patronage of Robert Morris. Sometime during the late spring of 1783 the struggling Ledyard met Morris, a Philadelphia merchant, ...
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The chapter discusses John Ledyard's entry into business under the patronage of Robert Morris. Sometime during the late spring of 1783 the struggling Ledyard met Morris, a Philadelphia merchant, former member of the Continental Congress, and superintendent of finance for the United States. The controversial Morris was perhaps the most influential financier in the new country, having amassed Philadelphia's largest fortune. His voracious appetite for investment opportunity and his vast financial resources made him one of the very few American merchants who could seriously back a trading venture to the Pacific. The chapter discusses how in Ledyard, Morris had found a worthy supercargo for such a venture. With Morris's patronage, Ledyard became the supercargo for what he described as a great commercial enterprise. The chapter also reveals how in spite of the patronage of Morris, Ledyard's rise to commercial success was delayed by scandal and financial double-dealing.Less
The chapter discusses John Ledyard's entry into business under the patronage of Robert Morris. Sometime during the late spring of 1783 the struggling Ledyard met Morris, a Philadelphia merchant, former member of the Continental Congress, and superintendent of finance for the United States. The controversial Morris was perhaps the most influential financier in the new country, having amassed Philadelphia's largest fortune. His voracious appetite for investment opportunity and his vast financial resources made him one of the very few American merchants who could seriously back a trading venture to the Pacific. The chapter discusses how in Ledyard, Morris had found a worthy supercargo for such a venture. With Morris's patronage, Ledyard became the supercargo for what he described as a great commercial enterprise. The chapter also reveals how in spite of the patronage of Morris, Ledyard's rise to commercial success was delayed by scandal and financial double-dealing.
Jonathan Israel
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774426
- eISBN:
- 9781800340282
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774426.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter assesses the age of the ‘Court Jew’ (1650–1713), which marked the zenith of Jewish influence in early modern Europe. The remarkable role of the Jews in European affairs at that time ...
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This chapter assesses the age of the ‘Court Jew’ (1650–1713), which marked the zenith of Jewish influence in early modern Europe. The remarkable role of the Jews in European affairs at that time rested on the solid foundations laid during the Thirty Years War. By 1650, a scattered but socially closely intertwined élite of provisioners and financiers had emerged who were simultaneously agents of states and the effective leaders of Europe's Jewish communities. Sometimes, they showed a strong sense of commitment to one particular government, but this was, in fact, both unusual and untypical. Generally, Jewish court factors, or Hoffaktoren as they were known in Germany, lived outside the states which they served. Not infrequently, they acted for several governments at once. Most typical of all, the close collaboration and interdependence between them, interlocking with the correspondence between kehillot in different countries, made their activity more thoroughly international and specifically Jewish than the banking and contracting of later times. Assuredly, the system centred on Germany, Austria, and Holland, but it ramified far beyond these limits, exerting an appreciable influence also on affairs in Spain, Portugal, the Spanish Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Italy, England, and Ireland.Less
This chapter assesses the age of the ‘Court Jew’ (1650–1713), which marked the zenith of Jewish influence in early modern Europe. The remarkable role of the Jews in European affairs at that time rested on the solid foundations laid during the Thirty Years War. By 1650, a scattered but socially closely intertwined élite of provisioners and financiers had emerged who were simultaneously agents of states and the effective leaders of Europe's Jewish communities. Sometimes, they showed a strong sense of commitment to one particular government, but this was, in fact, both unusual and untypical. Generally, Jewish court factors, or Hoffaktoren as they were known in Germany, lived outside the states which they served. Not infrequently, they acted for several governments at once. Most typical of all, the close collaboration and interdependence between them, interlocking with the correspondence between kehillot in different countries, made their activity more thoroughly international and specifically Jewish than the banking and contracting of later times. Assuredly, the system centred on Germany, Austria, and Holland, but it ramified far beyond these limits, exerting an appreciable influence also on affairs in Spain, Portugal, the Spanish Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Italy, England, and Ireland.
Ariel Toaff
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774198
- eISBN:
- 9781800340954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774198.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter assesses the Jewish banks and bankers in late medieval Italy, particularly in Umbria. From the end of the thirteenth century, the communes of central and northern Italy held a powerful ...
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This chapter assesses the Jewish banks and bankers in late medieval Italy, particularly in Umbria. From the end of the thirteenth century, the communes of central and northern Italy held a powerful attraction for Jewish financiers from Rome and beyond the Alps, and the origins of many Italian Jewish communities are linked to the migrations of these first Jewish merchants and bankers. Umbria received one of the earliest, and largest, waves of migrating Jewish bankers from Rome: here, introduced and supported by the circles of the Roman Curia, whose political and economic interests they often represented, these bankers were invited by the communes to invest their capital in the local economy. The priors gave them official status in the money-market, binding them to the strict observance of charters laying down permitted charges and other regulations protecting prospective borrowers, but also granting them the rights of citizenship and numerous privileges of a legal and religious kind. The chapter then studies the structure and functioning of the great Jewish banking and trading companies. It also looks at the major banking families in Umbria, as well as the bankers' servants.Less
This chapter assesses the Jewish banks and bankers in late medieval Italy, particularly in Umbria. From the end of the thirteenth century, the communes of central and northern Italy held a powerful attraction for Jewish financiers from Rome and beyond the Alps, and the origins of many Italian Jewish communities are linked to the migrations of these first Jewish merchants and bankers. Umbria received one of the earliest, and largest, waves of migrating Jewish bankers from Rome: here, introduced and supported by the circles of the Roman Curia, whose political and economic interests they often represented, these bankers were invited by the communes to invest their capital in the local economy. The priors gave them official status in the money-market, binding them to the strict observance of charters laying down permitted charges and other regulations protecting prospective borrowers, but also granting them the rights of citizenship and numerous privileges of a legal and religious kind. The chapter then studies the structure and functioning of the great Jewish banking and trading companies. It also looks at the major banking families in Umbria, as well as the bankers' servants.
Sonya Salamon and Katherine MacTavish
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501713217
- eISBN:
- 9781501709685
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501713217.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
For rural families with modest resources, and a housing dream for a better life, buying a trailer in a land-lease trailer park is a logical housing decision. The “mobile home industrial complex” is a ...
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For rural families with modest resources, and a housing dream for a better life, buying a trailer in a land-lease trailer park is a logical housing decision. The “mobile home industrial complex” is a term coined to capture the interlocked markets whose entrepreneurs – mobile dealers, financiers, and trailer park operators -- operate highly lucrative enterprises. Trailer parks have an important role to play in providing private solutions for affordable housing in rural areas. The reality of how the industrial complex operates, however, keeps the homeownership housing Dream that park families chase tantalizingly out of reach for all but a few.Less
For rural families with modest resources, and a housing dream for a better life, buying a trailer in a land-lease trailer park is a logical housing decision. The “mobile home industrial complex” is a term coined to capture the interlocked markets whose entrepreneurs – mobile dealers, financiers, and trailer park operators -- operate highly lucrative enterprises. Trailer parks have an important role to play in providing private solutions for affordable housing in rural areas. The reality of how the industrial complex operates, however, keeps the homeownership housing Dream that park families chase tantalizingly out of reach for all but a few.
Kenneth Dyson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198714071
- eISBN:
- 9780191782558
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198714071.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter examines the role of theology in framing thinking about debt and as a tool in debt financing, with particular reference to usury, the ‘great chain of being’, moral paternalism, and ...
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This chapter examines the role of theology in framing thinking about debt and as a tool in debt financing, with particular reference to usury, the ‘great chain of being’, moral paternalism, and anti-Semitism. It explains why Jewish financiers became so significant, using the late Holy Roman Empire as a case study. Attention is paid to the circumvention of usury doctrine through subterfuge and hypocrisy; to Crusading and debt; and to the notion of the king’s two bodies. Also, the chapter draws an analytical distinction between three conceptions of sovereign creditworthiness, each grounded in the ideological commitments of different social interests. It documents the rise and fall of these different models of society: hierarchical, market, and communitarian. Most notably, the emergence of self-made wealth, rentiers, and associated new professional groups formed the basis for the primacy accorded to the creditor and for the rise of the statesman-banker.Less
This chapter examines the role of theology in framing thinking about debt and as a tool in debt financing, with particular reference to usury, the ‘great chain of being’, moral paternalism, and anti-Semitism. It explains why Jewish financiers became so significant, using the late Holy Roman Empire as a case study. Attention is paid to the circumvention of usury doctrine through subterfuge and hypocrisy; to Crusading and debt; and to the notion of the king’s two bodies. Also, the chapter draws an analytical distinction between three conceptions of sovereign creditworthiness, each grounded in the ideological commitments of different social interests. It documents the rise and fall of these different models of society: hierarchical, market, and communitarian. Most notably, the emergence of self-made wealth, rentiers, and associated new professional groups formed the basis for the primacy accorded to the creditor and for the rise of the statesman-banker.
Parker Shipton
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300116038
- eISBN:
- 9780300162929
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300116038.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
After several decades' experience of international farm finance programs, financiers began wondering what lessons they might “borrow” from farming people themselves—not just about farming and ...
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After several decades' experience of international farm finance programs, financiers began wondering what lessons they might “borrow” from farming people themselves—not just about farming and borrowing but about lending and saving. This chapter briefly presents some of those lessons. It discusses how, where land for farming is becoming scarce, as it has been in western Kenya over the past century, people who farm have had to rely increasingly heavily on supplemental or off-farm activities, if only to keep their families fed, and how the small enterprises in which they do so have received ever more attention from private aid agencies, as these have become increasingly involved in finance over three decades. The turn of these agencies to microfinance has amounted to something like a revolution in the aid world. The chapter argues that this revolution raises many questions, which are both practical and moral.Less
After several decades' experience of international farm finance programs, financiers began wondering what lessons they might “borrow” from farming people themselves—not just about farming and borrowing but about lending and saving. This chapter briefly presents some of those lessons. It discusses how, where land for farming is becoming scarce, as it has been in western Kenya over the past century, people who farm have had to rely increasingly heavily on supplemental or off-farm activities, if only to keep their families fed, and how the small enterprises in which they do so have received ever more attention from private aid agencies, as these have become increasingly involved in finance over three decades. The turn of these agencies to microfinance has amounted to something like a revolution in the aid world. The chapter argues that this revolution raises many questions, which are both practical and moral.
