Transnational Firms and Cooperation Patterns in the Mediterranean: two Catalan-Aragonese Firms in the Fifteenth Century

Abstract

This paper presents a methodological approach to the study of the increasingly efficient commercial and banking firms in late medieval Europe, based on the structural analysis of two major Mediterranean firms that operated from Zaragoza and Barcelona in the first half of the fifteenth century. The analysis of the cooperative mechanisms deployed by the socio-economic elite of the Crown of Aragon is brought to the foreground with special emphasis on human capital strategies, such as those reflected in the recruitment of commercial agents. We discuss a number of examples drawn from notarial records, account books and commercial correspondence in order to bring to light not only commercial relationships but also kinship and friendship ties.

Este trabajo propone una aproximación metodológica para el estudio de las empresas mercantiles bajomedievales basada en el análisis estructural de dos grandes empresas que operaron entre Zaragoza y Barcelona en la primera mitad del siglo XV. A partir del análisis de los mecanismos cooperativos implementados por esta elite socio-económica de la Corona de Aragón, se pone el énfasis en las estrategias relacionadas con el capital humano, especialmente en el reclutamiento de agentes comerciales. Las fuentes notariales, libros de cuentas y correspondencia comercial permiten sacar a la luz relaciones comerciales pero también afinidades y amistades.