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Brotton, The Renaissance Bazaar - 1

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165 views16 pages

Brotton, The Renaissance Bazaar - 1

Bazaar_1

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Teresa Roberts
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XPHHB. YZ29 THE RENAISSANCE BAZAAR From the Silk Road to Michelangelo Jerry Brotton OXFORD “The anniversary of Columbus’ fist voyage led a new gener ation of scholars to think about how Europe's discovery ofthe ‘New World to the west was based upon an understanding ofthe (Old World to the east. 1492 was also the year that Columbus royal patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella, expelled both the Jewish and Arabic communities from Spain. Inthe account of his fist, soyage, dedicated to Ferdinand and Isabella, Cokumbus wrote: “having expelled all the Jews fom your domains in that same ‘month of January your Highnesses commanded me to go with an adequate fleet to these parts of India the Americas]... ‘departed from the city of Granada on Saturday 12 May and went to the port of Palos, where I prepared three ships.” Cohumbus understood his voyage to the New World asa mission o conquer and convert the people he found there, in the same way that Ferdinand and tgbella aimed to conquer the Jewish and Muslim ‘communities of Spin. This was a much more sinister version of the voyages of discovery than the one provided by Michelet and Burckhardt. It also showed that, until the end ofthe ash century Christians, Musims, and Jews had amicably exchanged ideas and objects, despite their religious differences. “Today scholars ar beginning to realize that, despite Ferdinand sand Isabella's attempt to eradicate the Renaiseance bazaars of Spain tthe end ofthe 15th century the splet of mutual exchange Dberween east and west continued throughout the 16th century. “These connections were responsible for some ofthe grestest ce ations of what we today cll the European Renaissance. While the discovery of America to the west profoundly transformed how europeans understood their place in an expanding world, the ongoing encounters with the east were also crucial tohow Europe ‘began to define itself regionally, both politically and creatively 1. A GLOBAL RENAISSANCE ‘Whose Renaissance is it anyway? ‘One of the problems with the classi definitions ofthe Rens. sance is that they celebrate the achievements of European civlztion tothe excision of al others Its no coincidence that ‘the period that wimessed the invention of the term was also the moment at which Europe was most aggressively asterting ie imperial dominance across the ple. The Renaissance Man Invented by Michelet and Burckhardt was white, male, cultured, and convinced of his cultural superiority. Im this respect, Renaissance Man sounds like the Victorian ideal ofan ienperal adventurer or colonial oficial. Rather than describing the world fof the rth and 16th centuries, these writers were in fact describing their owm world. This chapter rejects this approach and facuteson the cultural and commercial exchanges between an amorphous Europe and the societies to its eas. It argues that Renaissance Europe defined and measured itself in relation to ‘the wealth and splendour of the eas, 2 fact that has been over looked due tothe influence of the roth> [> {e! an [Sma ce [bol on [ea €|6|b |] Oa meee éolate | AFIT ye jf | 2S [oo most significant innovations waste illo exchange, the earliest ‘example of paper money. A bill of exchange was the ancestor of the modern cheque, which originated from the medieval Arabic term ‘sakK., When you wate a cheque, you are drawing on your creditworthiness at a bank. Your bank wall honour the cheque ‘when the holder presents i for payment. A iqh-century trader ‘would similarly pay fora consignment of merchandise with a paper bill of exchange dawn ftom a powerful merchant family, who would honour the bill when it was presented either on specific later date, or upon delivery ofthe goods, Merchant fa ilies that guaranteed such transactions on pieces of paper soon ‘transformed themacves into bankers aswell as merchants. The ‘merchant turned banker made money on these transactions by charging interest based on the amount of time it took forthe bill, to be repaid and throvgh manipulating the rate of exchange betwen diferent international currencies. God's bankers “The medieval church sil forbade usury, defined asthe charging ofintereston loan. The theologian St Thomas Aquinas argued that to receive usury for money lent is in itself unjust since itis the sale of what doesnot exist: whereby, inequality results, which is contrary to justice’. The religious tenets ofboth Christianity ain Islam officially forbade the charging of interest on loans. In practice, both culture found loopholes to maximize financial profit, Merchant bankers could disguise the charging of interest, ‘by nominally ending money in one curency and then collecting itin a different currency. Bult int this process was a favourable rate of exchange that allowed the merchant banker to profit by a 6 * A gla Renaeance petcentage of the original amount. The banker therefore held money on “deposit! for merchants and in return established sufficient ‘credit for other merchants to accept their bills of exchange a8 form of money in its own right Another solution ‘was to employ Jewish merchants to handle credit transactions and act as commercial mediators between the two religions, for the simple reason that Jews were fee of any offical religous ‘robibition against sry, From this historia accident emerged ‘he anti-Semitic stereotype of Jews and their supposed connex- tion with international finance, adivect product of Christian and Muslim hypocrisy. This hypocrisy is dramatically captured in both Marlowe's play The fe af Matte (1590) and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (594), n their depictions of Jewish mer ‘chants who ate ultimately portrayed a less rapacious and selfish than the Christian and Islamic communities within which they live “The accumulating wealth and status of merchant bankers laid the foundations for the political power and artistic innor- ation that today characterizes the European Renaissance. The famous Medic family who dominated Florentine polities and culure throughout the 15th century started out life as merchant bankers. In 1397 Giovanni di Biei de’ Medic established the Medici Bank in rence, which soon perfected the art of double entry bookkeeping and accounting, deposit nd transfer banking. ‘maritime insurance, and the profitable circulation of bills of ‘exchange. The Medici Bank alto became ‘God's banker’ by trans: ferring the papacy's funds throughout Europe. By 1429 the humanist scholar and Florentine chancellor Poggio Braccolini ‘ould venture the opinion that ‘money is necessary asthe sinews ‘that maintain the stat’ and that it was ‘very advantageous, Doth for the common welfare and for civic life’. Examining the impact of trade and commerce om cites, he could righty ask, how many ‘magnificent houses, distinguished vl, churches, colonnades, and hospitals have been constructed in our own time’ with the _money generated by the great merchant houses ofthe likes ofthe Medici in Florence? Figures like Fibonacci and Bracciolint understood that itwas trade and exchange with the east, and the adoption of mote systematic ways of doing business that crested the conditions for Renaissance ar, culture, and consumption Speculation, exchange, risk, and profit areal tems taken from ttade and commerce, However by the end ofthe 1th century such terms had also become central to people's understanding of the world and their own persona identity. ‘The grand Turks 1m 14s the Hundred Years War between England and France came toan end. One consequence of the peace was an intensf cation of trade between northern and southern Europe. At the other end of Europe 1453 witnessed another equally momentous event. This was the year that the Islamic Ottoman Empire finally fonqueted the seat ofthe thousand.yearold Byzantine Empire Constantinople. The fil of Constantinople tothe Turkish Otto ‘man fores signalled « decisive shift in international political ‘power and confirmed the Ottomans asthe most powerful empire that Europe had seen since the days ofthe Roman Empire “The Ottoman Empire emerged in the 1th century from a small Turkish tribe based in Anatolia in western Turkey whose military conquests increasingly encroached on the teritories of ‘the crumbling Byzantine Empire tthe west. The frst Christian “ ¥ Agloba Remisance Roman Emperor, Constantine, renamed Byzantium Constant nople in 330. By 1054 the differences between the western Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church based in Constantinople were so ineconcilable thatthe two churches refused to acknowledge the authority of the other, an event ‘known asthe Great Schism. As the Turks closed in on the prize ‘of Constantinople thoughout the 14308, increasingly desperate attempts to unify the western and eastern churches and defend the city collapsed. In the spring of 1453 over 100,000 Turkish ‘uoops lid siege to Constantinople, and on 28 May the Sultan Mehmed Il, afterwards refered to as ‘Mehmed the Conqueror finally captured the ci. Traditionally the fall of Constantinople has been seen as a catastophe for Christianity and many contemporary church leaders were horrified by the news. The renowned humanist scholar Aeneas Silvins Piccolomini (ater ope Pius I} wrote to Pope Nichols V ut wat tht embi news recent reported about Constansaople? ‘Who cam dob tt he Turk wl ven her wrth pen the ‘hurches of God eve thatthe worl sot mows terple Hapia Sophie destroyed or defied {reve hat countess aia of {heats marvels of'achtectae wi lin ais orbembjeced 6 ‘he deferment f Mora. What can ay aout he books wih ‘out ume tere which ae no yet non in aly? Ala, ow mar runes of eat men wil ow pre? This wil bea second dea 2 Homer and second deacon of Plat As the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople was one ofthe last connections between the world of classical Rome and asthcentury Italy, It acted as a conduit forthe recovery of| ‘much of the learning of classical culture. Piccolomini saw the city’s fal & a repeat ofthe fll ofthe Roman Empire itself, its culture, learning, and architecture destroyed by the ‘barbarian’ The Re jssance Bazaar hordes. The only difference was that this time they were Muss. 1m fact Mehmed was not the barbaric despot often evoked in the westem histrial imagination. His affinity withthe poitial ambitions and cultural tastes of his Halian counterparts was ‘Seonger than is often imagined. While directing the siege of Constantinople, Mehmed employed several Malian humanists ‘who ‘read to the Sultan daly ffom ancient historians such 35 Taertivs, Herodotus, Livy and Quintas Curtius and from chron- idles of the popes and the Lombard kings”. Mehmed and his predecessors had spent decades conquering much ofthe etory pf the dlasscil Graeco-Roman world o which isth-entury Taian humanism looked for much of its inspiration. It is therefore hardly suprising that the cultured Mehmed should share similar cultural ahd historical influences and aspirations, and that his famperal achievements were ‘in no way inferior to thove of Alex andet the Macedonian’ (Aleander the Great), as one of Mebmed's Greck chroniders told him. Another admiting schol, George of Trebizond, wrote to Mehmed telling hin, 0 ‘one doubts that you are emperor ofthe Romans. Whoever holds by tight the centre ofthe empire s emperor and the cense ofthe ‘empire is Constantinople’, Mehmed appeared suprised at Htaly’s fnwiely regarding his conquest of Greece. Claiming that the ‘Turks and Ialians shared a common Tiojan heritage, he pre sumed that the Kalians would be pleased at his victory over & ‘mutual old enemy! Despite Piccolomini fears of the destruction and religious desecration of Constantinople, Mehmed immedi ‘ely embarked upon an ambitious building programme to sup- port his claims to imperial author. This involved repopulating the city with Jewish and Christian merchants and craftsmen, A global Rensisance founding the Great Bazaar that established the city’s pre ‘eminence as an international trading centre, and renaming it Istaibul, meaning ‘throne’ or ‘capt’. ‘Many European powers saw Mehmed’ rise to power as an ‘opportunity rather than a castrophe. Within months ofthe fall ‘of Constantinople both Venice and Genoa sent envoys to success- fully renew trading relations wit the ity and th vas) enlarged Ottoman teritores. By spring 1454 Venice had signed a peace treaty with Mehmed allowing it preferable commercial privileges. ‘The Venetian Doge insisted “itis our intention to live in peace and friendship with the Turkish emperor’ The resumption of amicable commercial relations was also matched by cultural land artistic transactions. In 1461 Sigismondo Malatesta, the feared Lord of Rimini, sent his court artist Matteo de’ Pas to Istanbul to paint and sculpt’ the sultan, inthe hope of formal- ‘ing » military alliance with the Ottomans against Venice. The Ualign architects Flaete and Michelozza were also both wooed by Mehmed as possible designers for his ambitious new palace, ‘he Topkapi Saray, which, according to one v6th century Venetian ambassador, ‘everyone acknowledges to be the most beautiful ‘the most convenient, and most miraculous in the world Rather than destroying the classical texts of the ancient worl, Mehmed's library, much of which stl remains in the “Topkapi Saray in Istanbul, reveals that he coveted such books 25 zealously a8 his align counterparts. Mehmed's library included copies of Ptolemy's Geography, Avicenna’s Canones, Aquinas's Summa contra Gentiles, Homer's Mad, and other texts in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. So great was Mehmed’ reputation that i 1482 the Florentine humanist Francesco Berlinghier dedicated his new Latin wanslation of Ptolemy's Geography "Mehmed of the Ottomans, ilusrious prince and lord of the throne of God \When Berlinghieri heard thatthe sultan had died suddenly he ‘quickly corrected his translation and dedicated it to Mebmed's successor, Bayezid I! n 479 the Doge of Venice loaned! Gentile Bellin to Mehmed. Giorgio Vasari writes, Gentile had been there [in Constantinople} no long ime when he portrayed the Emperor “Mehmed from the life so well, that twas held a mitacle’. This is the beautifel portrait that Bellini painted of Mehmed (Plate 2) that still hangs in the National Galley in London, ellini returned to Venice laden with git from Mehmed, and ‘in addition to many privileges, there was placed around his neck a chain wrought in the Turkish manne, equal in weight to aso gold crown. Tis git throws new light onthe painting Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria, by Gentile and his brother Giovanni, AL the foot of Mark's pulpit, positioned in the foreground, is an unmistakable selfportat of Gentle; round his neck hangs the chain presented to im by Mehmed. Here is Belin proudly displaying the fruits of Mehmed's patronage, and using his experiences in Istanbul to add exotic deal to his epicton of Alexandria. Mehmed’s patronage is evidently not ‘source of embarrassment, but a mark of distinction, Several talian rulers acknowledged Mehmed's power by ‘commissioning their own art objects in his honour. In April 1478 Giuliano de? Medic, brother of Lorenzo de’ Medici, was mur: dered by Bernardo Bandini Baroncello in the infamous "Pazzi Conspiracy’. Bernardo fled to Istanbul, but was arrested on Mehmed’s orders and returmed to Florence where he was sub- sequently executed for murder. To express his gratitude Lorenzo ‘commissioned the Florentine artist Bertoldo di Giovanni to make 4 porttait medal of Mehmed. The front of the medal shows, pct AplobalRenieace Mehmed’ profile, while the back depicts Mehmed in triumph, riding a chariot that contains prsonifiations af the vanguished territories in Europe and Asia now under his contol. Like other portrait medals made for Mehmed, ths medal draws on classical Graeco-Roman themes and motifs that Lorenzo de’ Medic obi: ously believed would be recognizable to Mehmed. This was a flatering art commission, designed to celebrate the achieve: ments of 4 rival, but one who shared a common artistic and intellectual heritage. ‘There were no clear geographical or political barriers Detween east and west inthe rth century. tis a much later, the century belief inthe absolute cultural and poltial separation of | the Islamic ast and Christian west that has obscured the easy ceachange of wade, ar. and ideas between these two cultures "Europe was very awae thatthe culture, customs, and religion of| Islam were ver different from its own, and the two sides were often in direct military conflict with each other. However, the point is that material and commercial exchanges between them ‘were largely unaffected by politcal hostility: instead the com: petiveness of business transactions and cultural exchanges roduced a fertile environment for development on both sides. East-west conflict persisted, but Mchmed's imperial succes: sors kept up the cultural politcal and commercial dialogue with Europe, exchanging everything ffor silk, horses, rugs, and tap- estres to porelain,rulips, and armaments. In 1482 Mebmed's son Prince Cem Suitan unsuccessfully challenged his brother, the future Bayerd I forthe vacant imperial crown. He fled to Rhodes, then France, and was filly held in Rome from 1489 ‘under papal supervision. His mysterious death in Naples in 1495 ended European hopes of placing 4 sympathetic figure on the ‘Owoman throne. However, ths did not prevent Byezid om ‘continuing to woo Malian merchants and ariss, inviting both ‘Leonardo and Michelangelo to work on commissions in Istanbul “The accession of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in 1520 inten sified artistic an diplomatic exchanges. Suleyman established 2 lively woovay trade in horse, tapestries, and jewelery. Pietro ‘Aretino, one of Italy's most renowned humanist scholars, was particularly impressed by Sileyman, and wrote o offer his schol lanky services in 1532, In 533 the Dermoyen tapestry firm dis patched a team of weavers and merchants to Istanbul to design tapestries for the sultan, The firm was dearly impressed by Sileyman’s investment in lavish imperial art objects, such asthe dazzling imperial crown he bought from a consortium of Vene- tian goldsmiths in 1532, The Turks were again laying siege to Vienna atthe time, and Sileyman would ride around the iy walls wearing his magnificent crown, a deliberate provcation to the city's Hapsburg defenders, Such behaviour delighted the French, Sileyman’s longstanding allies, By the 15708 the Oto ‘mans were als allied tothe English crown, which sought Turk ish support in its opposition to the imperial ambitions of the ‘Spanish King Philip I. The Turks became such powerfl political ‘brokers in late r6thcentury Europe thatthe French humanist Michel de Montaigne concluded that ‘the mightiest, yea the best sete estat that i now in the Word is that ofthe Takes’ ‘The winds of change Rather than shutting off eltural contact between east and west, ‘once it was in conttal of Constantinople the Ottoman Empire simply charged for such exchanges. Overland trade routes into Aloal Renaeance Persia, Central Asia, and China were heavily taxed by the Otto: ‘man administration, but this just created new ways of doing, business. The end of the Hundred Yeas War stimulated a greater circulation of tride between northern and southern Europe, ItensifVing the demand for exotic goods from the east, This accelerated the pace and scale of commercial exchange and led Christian European states to seck ways of circumventing the heavy tariffs placed on their transportation of goods from east to west Most easter merchandise was paid for in European gold and silver bullion. As dhe ote mines in Central Europe began to run dry and taifs escalated, new sources of revenue were needed: this led ditecly to an increase in exploration and aiscovery For centuries gold had tricked into Europe via North Africa and the tans-Saharan caravan routes, The Jewish mapmaker ‘Abraham Cresques encapsulated the European desire for Aftican sold in is Catalan Aas, made in 1375 for Charles V of France (Plate 3) In the pane representing northwest Africa, Cesques depicts the fabled ‘Musa Mansu’, lord of Guinea, seated above ‘wo ofthe key places involved in the Saharan movernent of gold— ‘Mali and Timbukts, In his hands he holds a gold orb, and the legend to his right reads, ‘So abundant is the gold whichis found {in his country that he isthe richest and most noble king in the land’. Exotic as Cresques’ map looks, it offers a reasonably accurate understanding ofthe movement of gold from the mines of Sudan to the commercial centres on the fringes ofthe Sahara such as Sijlmasa, Wargla, and Timbukts, From here it was made into ingots, passed on to Marrakech, Tunis, Cairo, and Alexandria ‘where, a5 one Venetian merchant noted, ‘itis bought by us ‘The Renoitsance Bazeor Italians and other Christians from the Moors with the various rmerchandize we give them!. A midure of fact and fable, ‘Cresques' map shows what Europe wanted from Africa at the end ‘ofthe 14th century It also emphasizes how Portugal was abe to tums previously marginal and isolated position on the western edge of Europe to ful vantage. The Portuguese began seting the Atlantic islands of Madeira, the Canaries, andthe Azores for commercial profit from the 1420s onwards. However, the Porta: {guese crown asd merchants Soon realized that seaborne travel “long the African coastine could tap into the gold and spice trade at source, This could boldly circumvent takes imposed on ‘overland trde routes through Otoman tersitores. However, such an ambitious project invoked organization and capital By the mid-sth century German, Florentine, ‘Genoese and Venetian merchants were sponsoring Portuguese voyages down the coast of West Afia and offering the Portu: fuese king a percentage of any profits. Between 1454 and 1456 the Venetian merchant Alvise Cadamosto salle down the coast of Africa, traveling via Cape Blanco up the Senegal River and then around Cape Verde (encompassing present-day Senegal and CGatnbia), Landing at Cape Blanco, his main interest was in the ‘Arb traders who made up the tansSaharan tade route ‘throughout the interior ‘These re the men who goo he nd ofthe Bsc, and alot ou eter Bala) (Nonh Ala, Tey ate very numerous, and bane tray camel om wich hey carry bras nd ser ern Buby an Ce things to Tau (bok) aod helo of the Bas, “Tne hey cary ama dud pepper whic hey bing ie However it was not only gold that flowed back into Europe through these complex Affican tade routes, While traveling 6 — A global Rensinsaee ‘through the kingdom ofa chiefain called ‘Budome!'in southern ‘Senegil, Cadamosto traded seven horses ‘which together had cost me orginally about three hundred duct’ for r00 slaves, For ‘the Venetian this was a casual, but highly profitable desl, based ‘on an accepted exchange rat of nine to 14 saves for one horse (it thas been estimated that t this time Venice itself had a popula tion ofover 3000 slaves). Weting in 1446, Cadamosto estimated that ‘every year the Portuguese take fom Arguim 1,000 slave’ Individuals who were taken back to Lisbon and sold throughout Burope. This tade represents one of the datkestsies of the European Renaissance, and marked the beginnings of atau ‘lantc slave trade that was to bring misery and suffering to millions of Africans over subsequent centuries, lasting ong after the official abolition of slavery in 1834. Is sobering to nate how the economies funding the great cultural achievements of the Renaissance were profiting by this unscrupulous trade in human lives, ‘The African gold pepper. clot, and slaves that lowed back into mainland Europe, alongside the merchandise imported fiom the east also sowed the seeds of a global geogsaphical understanding ofthe erly modern world. In 1492, onthe eve of Corb’ ist voyage othe New World, the German cloth mer ‘chant Martin Behaim created an object that encompassed the fasion of global economies and artistic innovation that was becoming increasingly characteristic ofthe time, What Bebaim created was the ist known terrestrial globe ofthe world (Fig, 5 Lavishlyilustrated with over 1200 place names and 48 mini atures of kings and rulers, Behaim's globe also contained detailed legends describing merchandise, commercial practices, and trade routes across the known world, More than just an os maui eample goggle gle wat 4 cx a a enlace wor etd by somes coe a tandem cece wh expr 0 Wes Aca een 48 get ame neon fw aed necator pods and meander and Se thes wh con hams be reseed Dane nd la asin capes icn Be 2 Mo err ahey might dest wwe se cm, ps gi and ae: tse we At Rees commodities that spurred the creation of the first truly global image of the early modern world Such cultural and commercial influences were not all one vray, One Portuguese chonidler noted "in this kingdom of Kongo they make fabric witha map ike vehet, some of thems ‘worked in velvety satin, so beawtifl that nothing finer is made i Hal’. Another observed that, “in Sierra Leone, men are very CGever and make extremely beautiful objects such 38 spoons, falcellats, and dagger hits’. This isa direct reference to the ‘remarkable carvings that ave subsequently been called 'Afro- Portuguese ioris’. Carved by Afscan atts from Sierra Leone and Nigeria, these beautiful artworks fuse ican style with European motifs to create a hybrid object that i unique t0 both cultures. Salt elas and oliphants (bunting hors) were particu: lucy common examples of such carvings, and were owned by figures as diverse as Albrecht Dixer andthe Medici Family One partcully striking salt cellar, dated to the erly s6th century ig. 6), depicts four Portuguese figures supporting 2 basket upon which sails a Portuguese ship. With an added touch of hhumout a sailor peeps out fiom the crow's nest, The details of ‘he dothing, weapons, and rigging are obviously drawn from Gktlled observation of and encounters with Portuguese se: fares. Scholars believe that these carvings were designed for capo to Europe. They reveal a level of cultural interaction and change beyond traditional assumptions about Renaissance Europe's encounters with Afica. They also demonstrate that African design had a significant impact upon the art and archi- tecture of the European Renaissance, The delicate beaded brided, and twisted features of these carvings heavily influ feced the architecare of x6th-century Portugal as it began to fiom Spain on a voyage into the western Atlantic, When Colum. bus lnded in the Bahstnas om 0 October 1492, he added another piece to Behaim’s global jigsaw ofthe Renaissance, a New Word! tothe west, Within a century European geographers lik Abraham Ortelius and Gerard Mercator were abe to crete a map of the wer assertion of European global dominance would prove tobe any thing but harmonious nd ‘vz’ over the next Five hundred that looked strikingly modeen. Howeter, this raise monuments celebrating its commercial power in ASfica ann the Fa East. tn i452, as Behaim completed his globe andthe craftsmen of Siora Leone carved ther ivories, Christopher Columbus se sail

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