Dissertation committee:
Νικολέττα Γιαντσή, καθηγήτρια, Ιστορίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Μαρία Ντούρου-Ηλιοπούλου, ομότιμη καθηγήτρια, Ιστορίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Αναστασία Παπαδία-Λάλα, ομότιμη καθηγήτρια, Ιστορίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Χαράλαμπος Γάσπαρης, διευθυντής Ερευνών, Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών
Μαρίνα Κουμανούδη, κύρια ερευνήτρια, Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών
Αικατερίνη Κωνσταντινίδου, αναπληρώτρια καθηγήτρια, Ιστορίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Γεώργιος Παγουλάτος, καθηγητής, Διεθνών και Ευρωπαϊκών Οικονομικών Σπουδών, ΟΠΑ
Summary:
The doctoral dissertation on “Flemish merchants at the Fairs of Champagne. An integrated economic space in the heart of European Middle Ages” takes an interpretive approach to the question of whether the presence of Flemish merchants at the Champagne Fairs and the corresponding development of a market network in the cities of Flanders contributed to the creation of an integrated economic space in the region. between the royal possessions in Paris, Ile-de-France and the North Sea. In order to formulate the dissertation, sources from two annexes of the General Archives of the Kingdom of Belgium in Ghent have been studied (Archives Générales de Royaume-Oorkonden van de Graven van Vlaanderen, Fonds de St-Genois and Archives Générales de Royaume-Oorkonden van de Graven, Fonds de St-Genois-Wyffels Supplement) and published parts of the archives of the Mons (Archives de l'Etat à Mons) of Namur (Archives de l'Etat à Namur) of the former Nord District (Archives Départementales du Nord) and the Municipality of Douai (Archives Municipales de Douai), while the modern international bibliography has been utilized extensively.
The dissertation attempts to analyze how the creation of a network of markets from Flanders to Champagne led to conditions that favored international trade and the diffusion of institutions that strengthened supra-local and international land trade.
The dissertation is structured in two parts and a total of eight chapters. The first part focuses on the distinct urban development in the towns of Flanders and Champagne during the 12th and 13th centuries. In the comparative analysis of the phenomenon, three criteria are used. Initially, the influence of strong emerging groups on the formation of institutions. Then the influence of existing structures, mainly the Church and, finally, the political developments.
In the second part, the three main problems posed by the dissertation are analyzed by chapter. Specifically, in the first chapter is placed in the analysis the central project of the French kings and its acceleration during the 13th century, which is the focus of the study.
In particular, the archival material is used to substantiate that the customs policy consciously pursued by the kings of France was aimed not only at isolating Flanders by putting pressure on traders from this northern county. Policies also aimed to discredit any factor which threatened to create an integrated economic space of cooperation, which would not be controlled by Paris and, therefore, was opposed to the unifying venture of the Capetian dynasty.
The second chapter of the second part examines the power structures and social balances within the cities of Champagne. The arguments of political scientists such as Avner Greif, Paul Milgrom, Barry R. Weingast and Douglass North are presented. The dissertation follows a different path of interpretation though, especially in the discourse on “self regulation” of medieval markets. In that regard the recent work of historians such as Wim Blockmans, Bas van Bavel and Sheilagh Ogilvie is also examined.
The third chapter of the second part examines aspects of the conflict between the Kingdom of France and the County of Flanders. Emphasis is placed on the question of the origin of the evolution and variation of certain features of the medieval markets. These developments in the economic field are combined with political decisions, with emphasis on the key element highlighted in the dissertation, namely the use of customs and monetary policy tools with a dual purpose: first the severance of the Flemish-Champagne link and then the complete submission of the county. of Flanders.
The dissertation proposes a shift of the historical interest from the economic institutional analysis of medieval trade, as at least this has emerged from recent literature focusing on the Flemish and Champagne fairs. It is proposed to approach the issue through the geopolitical processes in two main axes. On the one hand, the unification venture of the Kings of France, and on the other, the divergent trend created by the development of strong markets under the control of decentralized elites, such as the commercial and bourgeois groups that controlled the highly autonomous towns of Flanders.
On the occasion of the study of the phenomenon of medieval markets in combination with the unifying project of the kings of France in the Picardy-Flemish area, an interpretive approach is proposed based on the combined use of economic, social and history of labor, while maintaining due importance in the overriding political context.
The third part of the theoretical approach to the topic of the dissertation concerns the emergence of geographical space and economic and political boundaries. In this context, some tools of geopolitics were used, most notably the work of G. O’ Tuathail.
The three theoretical approaches to the question of the construction, institutionalization and displacement of the medieval markets are made through the emergence of two parallel historical processes.
The first is the internationalization of land trade focusing on the French area, ie Flanders and Champagne, through the networks of institutionally organized markets, each with its own distinct characteristics.
The second is the development of the centralization venture of the French monarchy, in the context of which the internal borders of the Kingdom of France were consciously used in order to disrupt the continuation - mainly of the economic axis - that connected Flanders and Champagne.
Keywords:
Champagne, Flanders, overland trade, Fairs, Institutions, 13th century, Capetians, customs policies, economy, arbitration, territoriality
