Genoa and the Sea: Policy and Power in an Early Modern Maritime Republic, 1559-1684

by Thomas Allison Kirk

Overview

Genoa enjoyed an important and ever-changing role in the early modern Mediterranean world. In medieval times, the city transformed itself from a tumultuous maritime republic into a stable and prosperous one, making it one of the most important financial centers in Europe. When Spanish influence in the Mediterranean world began to decline, Genoa, its prosperity closely linked with Spain's, again had to reinvent itself and its economic stature.

In Genoa and the Sea, historian Thomas Allison Kirk reconstructs the early modern Mediterranean world and closely studies Genoa's attempt to evolve in the ever-changing political and economic landscape. He focuses on efforts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to revive shipbuilding and maritime commerce as a counterbalance to the city's volatile financial sector. A key component to the plan was a free port policy that attracted merchants and stimulated trade.

Through extensive research and close reading of primary documents, Kirk discusses the underpinnings of this complex early modern republic. Genoa's transformations offer insight into the significant and sweeping changes that were taking place all over Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421409665
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	01/03/2013
Series:	The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science , #123
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Thomas Allison Kirk teaches in the Department of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables vii

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xv

1 The Republic Genoa in the Early Modern World 3

2 The Genoese and the Republic of Genoa 29

3 Public Galleys and Private Interests, 1559-1607 51

4 Diplomacy and the Rearmament Debate: The Weight of the Spanish Alliance, 1607-1640 84

5 The Lure of the World's Seas, 1640-1680 117

6 Galleons, Galleys, and the Free Port: Ships and Power in a Little Country 151

7 Conclusion: A Century of Ships and Paper 186

Appendix A Operating Costs of "Free Galleys," 1646 203

Appendix B Breakdown of Annual Operating Expenses of a Mixed-Crew Galley, 1652 204

Notes 209

Bibliography 257

Index 269

Editorial Reviews

An excellent appetizer on the subject of early modern Genoese naval power.
--Renaissance Quarterly

Highly recommended.
--Choice

Genoa and the Sea succeeds in reintegrating the Genoese republic with its citizen bankers, its galley slaves, its competing clans and moneyed families in a fascinating, if dense, narrative of transition and transformation . . . Kirk has demonstrated the rich resources available for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Genoa, and should inspire much further research.
--Evelyn Welch, Historian

A refreshing approach . . . this book deserves to become the standard reference for maritime and economic historians of the early modern period.
--Michael Clark, Great Circle

A valuable addition to the literature on the economic history of the Mediterranean.
--Luisa Piccinno, Business History Review

An important contribution to the historiography of early modern Italy and its decline in the seventeenth century.
--Francesca Trivellato, Journal of Modern History

Not only a valuable contribution on the history of the republic of Genoa but also a new perspective on the changing Mediterranean world and the relationship of the Mediterranean with the rest of Europe during a period of sweeping transformations.
--Michela D'Angelo, International Journal of Maritime History

Provides plenty of food for thought regarding early-modern Italy and hopefully will stimulate more research into how the Italian states confronted their relative political and economic decline.
--Maria Fusaro, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

The essence of this book is Kirk's detailed understanding of the economics of shipbuilding and trade, as they affected the diplomatic and economic fortunes of the city of Genoa.
--Gervase Rosser, English Historical Review

This book treats a neglected subject--the maritime policy of an early modern Mediterranean state--with a new and refreshing approach.
--Jan Glete, American Historical Review

This is an interesting and important book, not least because it rescues from near oblivion (for the English-language reader) an important Italian and Mediterranean state whose experience in the early modern era merits greater attention than it has so far received.
--Christopher Storrs, History

Well researched and fluently written, the book is highly recommended not only for anglophone readers but to anybody.
--M. Elisabetta Tonizzi, Journal of Transport History

Well written and accessible, Genoa and the Sea merits reading by scholars and students of early modern Italy as well as by those who wish better to understand an old sea in a time of oceanic empire.
--Andrew Vorder Bruegge, Sixteenth Century Journal

From the Publisher

This book treats a neglected subject—the maritime policy of an early modern Mediterranean state—with a new and refreshing approach.

American Historical Review - Jan Glete

The essence of this book is Kirk's detailed understanding of the economics of shipbuilding and trade, as they affected the diplomatic and economic fortunes of the city of Genoa.

English Historical Review - Gervase Rosser

A refreshing approach . . . this book deserves to become the standard reference for maritime and economic historians of the early modern period.

Great Circle - Michael Clark

An excellent appetizer on the subject of early modern Genoese naval power.

Renaissance Quarterly

Not only a valuable contribution on the history of the republic of Genoa but also a new perspective on the changing Mediterranean world and the relationship of the Mediterranean with the rest of Europe during a period of sweeping transformations.

International Journal of Maritime History - Michela D'Angelo

Well written and accessible, Genoa and the Sea merits reading by scholars and students of early modern Italy as well as by those who wish better to understand an old sea in a time of oceanic empire.

Sixteenth Century Journal - Andrew Vorder Bruegge

"Highly recommended."

Choice

Well written and accessible, Genoa and the Sea merits reading by scholars and students of early modern Italy as well as by those who wish better to understand an old sea in a time of oceanic empire.

— Andrew Vorder Bruegge

Sixteenth-Century Journal

A valuable addition to the literature on the economic history of the Mediterranean.

— Luisa Piccinno

Business History Review

A valuable addition to the literature on the economic history of the Mediterranean.

Business History Review - Luisa Piccinno

Well researched and fluently written, the book is highly recommended not only for anglophone readers but to anybody.

Journal of Transport History - M. Elisabetta Tonizzi

This is an interesting and important book, not least because it rescues from near oblivion (for the English-language reader) an important Italian and Mediterranean state whose experience in the early modern era merits greater attention than it has so far received.

History - Christopher Storrs

An important contribution to the historiography of early modern Italy and its decline in the seventeenth century.

Journal of Modern History - Francesca Trivellato

Provides plenty of food for thought regarding early-modern Italy and hopefully will stimulate more research into how the Italian states confronted their relative political and economic decline.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History - Maria Fusaro

Genoa and the Sea succeeds in reintegrating the Genoese republic with its citizen bankers, its galley slaves, its competing clans and moneyed families in a fascinating, if dense, narrative of transition and transformation . . . Kirk has demonstrated the rich resources available for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Genoa, and should inspire much further research.

Historian - Evelyn Welch