When it comes to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of cities in Western Europe in the later Middle Ages and Early Modern period, it is common to stress princely control and the loss of autonomy, except for city states. However, over the past decades legal scholars have re-evaluated sovereignty, mostly with regard to states, but increasingly also in reference to other entities such as companies and cities. Nowadays historical sovereignty is no longer exclusively defined as doctrinal and conceptual but also as pertaining to discourse and practice. The topic of cities of trade, which had international connections, has not often been brought into connection with the themes mentioned. 

 

This workshop seeks to explore the connection points between debates in legal history, urban history and economic history, whilst zooming in on cities with a marked mercantile importance. During the workshop, preliminary results of the research that has been coordinated under the umbrella of the CaPANES-project will be presented. This ERC Consolidator Grant project analyzes economic sovereignty and studies six cities of trade in the period c. 1400-c. 1620. 

 

Programme

 

9h30-10h10: D. De ruysscher (Tilburg University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel), ‘Sovereignty of cities of trade: legal and scholastic doctrine’

 

10h10-10h50 F. Buylaert (Ghent University), 'Reconsidering the Non-Feudal Origins of Holland’s Seventeenth-Century Miracle’'

 

10h50-11h: discussion

 

11h00: coffee break

 

11h10-11h50: D. Bökenkamp (Tilburg University), ‘Scaling sovereignty: a layered methodology for analyzing cities of commerce’

 

11h50-12h30: F. Gordijn (Tilburg University), ‘Mercantile Networks, Governance and Commercial Law in Southampton (c. 1445-1509)’

 

12h30-14h: lunch

 

14h-14h40: A. Gonzalez Barrera (Tilburg University), ‘From Local Courts to the Bourse: Merchants, Capitouls, and the Parlement Negotiating Jurisdiction, Autonomy, and Economic Clout in Toulouse (1440s-1560s)’

 

14h40-15h20: Fl. Herrendorf (Tilburg University), ‘Between East and West: Rouen, Lübeck, and the Baltic Trade in the Sixteenth Century’

 

15h20 coffee break

 

15h40-16h20: R. Jeans (Tilburg University), ‘Local Integration and Embeddedness of Foreign Resident Merchants in Cities of Trade (c. 1400-c. 1520)”

 

16h20-17h: Ch. Schellekens (Tilburg University), ‘Networks between Florentine consulates and the Mercanzia observed through supplications (1546-1570)’

 

17h-17h30: final discussion

 

Attendance is free. Please register beforehand at d.deruysscher at tilburguniversity.edu