41st Annual Conference of Fordham’s Center for Medieval Studies "Cultures of Exchange: Mercantile Mentalities Between Italy and the World"
March 26-27, 2022
Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus, 113 W. 60th St., New York, NY 10023, United States
Recent scholarship has shed light on the complexity of medieval Italy’s multifaceted political and intellectual landscape and attempted to place it within a Mediterranean and global context. At the heart of this landscape was an innovative, linguistically and culturally diverse mercantile culture, fundamentally urban and rooted in a culture of exchange, which integrated merchants and mercantile mentalities into the fabric of government, politics, and society. Positioned at the crossroads of many cultures of exchange, Italy’s mercantile culture was embedded within and contributed to broader, global networks. This conference aims to investigate the practices and values pioneered by merchants, both in Italy and beyond, their impact on political and economic life, as well as on the development of the arts and society’s response to catastrophic upheaval.