Leiden University Student Repository

Olcina Pita, Víctor (2016)

Enforcing contracts for Valencian commerce: the institutional foundations of international trade in the first half of the fifteenth century

Master thesis | History (MA)

This paper tries to explore how contract enforcement was handled in the cross-religious environment of late medieval Christian Valencia, Muslim Granada and North Africa, given the fact that each religious community has usually been assumed to apply their own set of rules through their own community courts. By following the merchants of Valencia (incidentally also of Mallorca), whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish, we find instead a more complex scenario in which both Christian consulates and Muslim Royal courts played a crucial role by adapting their proceedings to the requirements of cross-religious trade. We explode also the role of institutions in supporting the expansion of commerce in early fifteenth century Valencia.

Valencia

Middle Ages

contract enforcement

institutions

commerce

Muslim West

Mediterranean

Author

Olcina Pita, Víctor

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

MA History 1000 - 1800

Supervisors

Sicking, Louis

ECTS Credits

30

Language

en