engleski

The New Class: Zaratine Merchants and their social role in the 14th-15th Century

Paper deals with medieval merchants of Zadar as a social class. A socio-professional category of mercatores, made up in major part of townsmen commoners who to the great extent influenced the currents of economic life of the commune of Zadar started to distinguish itself in the period before the dawn of Renaissance. They reinforced themselves relying on professional bonds, especially family. Thanks to received education and with training, they could quickly climb the social scales. Nevertheless, they remained excluded from political activities of the Great council and were placed as an opposition within the political life of the city, which became all the more powerful as their economic wealth increased. Their family connections were very broad and included ramified branches of the family tree, including children born outside wedlock. With the aim of reinforcing the capacity of their family within the framework of business and society, these merchants educated their sons, included their nephews and other relations. In this context, the women played an important part, in particular as business associates of their husband and as a means of social rise. At the first sight, cultural contribution of Zaratine merchants is not negligible. They had command of several languages, they were acquainted with the literary works most famous at their time. On the other side, they invested in the construction or the restoration of religious or lay buildings. In the spiritual field, they counted that the Lord is present in their business, they offer many bequests to the poor, for the dowry of the girls or for the beds in hospitals, without omitting to envisage going on pilgrimage for the salvation of their souls. Social, cultural and spiritual agency of the businessmen of Zadar testifies to the change of mentality which takes place in the society. They are "lay, bourgeois and technical", just like their Italian counterparts and of the Northern Mediterranean world in general.

social history; urban history; trade; merchants; Zadar; the Middle Ages

nije evidentirano