Publisher's Synopsis
In his investigation of the origins of modern capitalism, AndrÚ-E Sayous soon realised just how little of the groundwork necessary had been carried out. Accordingly, he made it his task to prepare such a foundation, and devoted the last fifteen years of his life to an increasingly intensive programme of research in the archives of Western Europe. This resulted in a prodigious output of articles. The ten selected here represent the most enduring part of his work on the commercial and financial history or the Mediterranean in the 11th-15th centuries. Incorporating many then unpublished documents, these articles constitute specific studies of the commercial techiques of the Middle Ages, and remain indispensable. The main focus is upon the operations of the merchant-capitalists of Barcelona and Marseilles, but other articles deal with Italy and the growth of the banking system, and with the role of international capital in financing the Crusade of Louis IX.
