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The Circulation of Interpersonal Credit in Renaissance Florence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2014

Paul D. McLean  and
Neha Gondal
Paul D. McLean
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey [pmclean@rutgers.edu]
Neha Gondal
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University [gondal2@osu.edu].
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Abstract

We analyze a network of 3,590 interpersonal credit ties among Renaissance Florentine elite households to determine how Florentine personal credit was socially structured. We assess the network in light of various social and economic motivations Florentines might have had to exchange credit with each other. We explore the extent of participation by people from different categories, such as neighborhoods, factions, and guilds, and we determine whether loans flowed primarily within or between such groupings. We observe considerable homophily within families and neighborhoods, but also extensive circulation of credit among the most commercially and politically active Florentines. The overall connectivity of this network of interpersonal credit transactions resembles the social structure of other contemporaneous Florentine networks, such as marriage and business, suggesting that interpersonal credit was an important and distinct domain in which elite membership was confirmed and elite social solidarity achieved.

Résumé

L’article étudie un réseau de 3 590 liens interpersonnels de crédit au sein de l’élite des ménages florentins de la Renaissance, pour rendre compte de la manière dont les prêts personnels étaient socialement structurés. Nous analysons le réseau à la lumière des diverses motivations socio-économiques associées à l’échange de crédit. Nous rendons compte du degré d’implication des Florentins en fonction de différentes catégories telles que le voisinage, la faction et la guilde et nous déterminons si les prêts avaient lieu prioritairement à l’intérieur ou entre ces groupes. Nous mettons en évidence une forte homophilie à l’intérieur des familles et des voisinages, mais également une circulation importante de crédit parmi les Florentins les plus actifs commercialement et politiquement. La connectivité globale de ce réseau de transactions interpersonnelles de crédit rappelle la structure sociale d’autres réseaux florentins de la même période, tels que des réseaux de mariages ou d’affaires. Ce qui suggère que le crédit interpersonnel était un domaine distinct et important dans lequel se jouait tant l’appartenance à une élite que la réalisation d’une forme spécifique de solidarité sociale.

Zusammenfassung

Der Aufsatz untersucht ein Netz von 3590 interpersonellen Krediten florentinischer Elitefamilien der Renaissance, um darzulegen, wie florentinische persönliche Kredite sozial strukturiert waren. Es handelt sich um eine Analyse der verschiedenen sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Beweggründe, die dem Kredithandel zugrunde lagen. Der Grad der Involvierung verschiedener Kategorien, wie Nachbarschaft, Faktion und Gilde wird untersucht und die Vergabe von Leihen, ob hauptsächlich innerhalb oder zwischen diesen Gruppen, bestimmt. Es lässt sich eine starke Homophilie innerhalb der Familien und der Nachbarschaften ausmachen, gleichzeitig aber auch ein bedeutender Kredithandel zwischen den wirtschaftlich und politisch aktivsten Florentinern. Die globale Verflechtung dieses Netzwerks interpersoneller Kredittransaktionen erinnert an die soziale Struktur anderer florentinischer Gruppen der gleichen Epoche, z.B. Ehe- und Handelsverbindungen. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass der interpersonelle Kredit ein eigenes und wichtiges Gebiet war, von der Zugehörigkeit zur Elite und der sozialen Solidarität der Eliten geprägt.

Keywords

CreditNetworkFlorenceRenaissanceEliteSolidarityCréditRéseauFlorenceRenaissanceÉliteSolidaritéKreditNetzwerkFlorenzRenaissanceEliteSolidarität
Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , August 2014 , pp. 135 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2014 

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References

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