Trading Secrets: Bans, Customs and Smuggling in the Hanseatic and Venetian Trade Systems (1291-1450)

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CV
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This study compares the smuggling networks connecting England and the Netherlands during the Hanseatic monopolies to the "silent muda" operating between Alexandria and Venice in violation of the Venetian staple system. In the period 1350-1450, numerous secular and religious prohibitions, alongside restrictive customs legislations, withdrew merchants from legal spheres of trade and fostered the emergence of smuggling networks. The study examines smuggling not only as a "criminal" reaction to "oppressive" customs regulations and thus as a simple binary pattern of respecting or breaking the law; rather, it looks at a multi-layered cultural phenomenon shaped by factors as diverse as social status, religious affiliation, moral conceptions, economic interests and spatial dispositions (i.e. tensions between periphery and centre), which created a complex situation of brokering, redefining, avoiding, and breaking the rules of different institutions. Smuggling is being defined as a relative term, signifying both the breaking of illicit monopolies and a business strategy in the face of changing regulatory burdens.

Personal Details:

Bild Georg Edit Sw

 

Georg Christ (Dr.phil. des.)
Heidelberg University
ZUK 49/1
TP 4 Transcultural Studies
Marstallstraße 6
69117 Heidelberg
Telefon: +49(0)6221/54-7852
Telefax:+49(0)6221/54-7862

georg.christ@uni-heidelberg.de

CV (pdf),  Dr. phil. des. Georg Christ 

 

CV

since 2008  Junior Research Group Leader, University of Heidelberg

 

Research Interests

 

  • Customs, maritime police, and smuggling in the Hanseatic league and the Mediterranean in the Late Middle Ages
  • Transcultural agency and the merchant diaspora as hinge between the cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Middle Ages
  • The new Portuguese spice route and its impact on the Mediterranean
  • News diffusion and perception in the early modern Mediterranean and the Middle East
  • Medieval archeology
  • Scientifc computing and digital datamanagement in historical research (cue card systems)

 

 

2002-2006  Ph.D. in Medieval history at the University of Basel.
Title: Konflikte am Schnittpunkt von Orient und Okzident. Der venezianische Konsul Biagio Dolfin in Alexandria 1418-1420 (Conflicts at the Intersection of Orient and Occident. The Venetian Consul Biagio Dolfin in Alexandria 1418-1420).

 

1995-2001  MA in History, Political Economy and Islam studies.

2006-2008  UN Military Observer and Deputy Chief Joint Mission Analysis Centre of the UN Truce Supervision Organisation, Jerusalem

2002-2006  Infantry company commander, Swiss Army

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Publications

 Monography

Conflicts at the intersection of Orient and Occident: A Venetian Consul in Mamlûk Alexandria at the beginning of the 15th century, (Ph.D), Basel 2006, Leyden: Brill (The Medieval Mediterranean), forthcoming 2009.

 

Book sections

«Venise et la Méditerranée orientale: les jeux d'échelle du commerce vénitien à Alexandrie à la fin du Moyen Âge » In (Ed.): Franchini, Sandro G. ; Toscano, Gennaro ; Gallot, Geneviève ; et al. : Venise et la Méditerranée, forthcoming.

« Contrebande, vin et révolte : lecture critique d'un conflit inter-culturel à l’ombre des rapports officieux entre Venise et Alexandrie à l’époque médiévale. » In (Ed.): Décobert C. and J. Y. Empereur : Alexandrie et le commerce de la Méditerranée médiévale, Le Caire : Imprimerie de l’IFAO, forthcoming.

« Les réseaux vénitiens de navigation à Alexandrie au début du XVe siècle : Rôle promoteur des galères et concurrence des navires rondes » In (Ed.) Valérian, Dominique and Christophe Picard : Espace et réseaux en méditerranée médiévale, mise en place des réseaux, les politiques d’Etat dans la formation des réseaux, Paris : Publications de la Sorbonne, forthcoming.

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“Theodor Biblianders Türkenschrift. Ein Reformator und Humanist über Religion, Moral und kriegerischen Erfolg“ In (Ed.) Leu, Urs B. and Christine Christ-v. Wedel: Erasmus in Zürich. Eine verschwiegene Autorität, Zürich: NZZ Verlag, 2006, pp. 309-326.

 

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„Das Fremde verstehen: Biblianders Apologie zur Koranausgabe im Spiegel des Basler Koranstreites von 1542“, In (Ed.) Christ-v. Wedel, Christine: Theodor Bibliander (1505-1564): ein Thurgauer im gelehrten Zürich der Reformationszeit, Zürich: NZZ Verlag, 2005, pp. 107-124.

 

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“Masking Cooperation with the Infidel: The Venetian Commercial Privileges, Political Power and Legal Culture in Mamluk Egypt”, In (Ed.) Osmond, J. and A. Cimadina: Power and Culture: Hegemony, Interaction and Dissent, Pisa: Pisa University Press, 2006, pp. 33-51.

 

Journal Article

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“A Newsletter in 1419? Antonio Morosini's Chronicle in the Light of Commercial Correspondence between Venice and Alexandria”, In Mediterranean Historical Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, June 2005, pp. 35-66.

 

 

Book review

“God’s Rule: Government and Islam. Six Hundred Years of Medieval Islamic Political Thought by Patricia Crone” (Book review), In al-Masaq, Vol. 19, No. 1, March 2007, pp. 77-79.

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International collaborations

 

Sep 2009 Arye Maimon-Institut, Universität Trier, organized by Christoph Cluse and Reuven Amitai: Slave Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in the Medieval Period (1000-1500). paper on Venetian slave trade.

2008-2010 International research cooperation as part of the 6th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development by Tuchscherer, M.; J.-Y. Empereur; et al.: Commerce et vertu : Les lieux de l'éthique marchande en Méditerranée. Meetings planned in Alexandria, Aleppo and Rabat;

Oct 2008 Colloque, Institut National du Patriomoine (INP), Paris, coorganized with the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti; 30-31 october, comité: Sandro G. Franchini, Geneviève Gallot, Gherardo Ortalli, Jean-Claude Schmitt, Gennaro Toscano: Venise et la Méditerranée, paper given.

Apr 2008 Conference, Centre d’Études Alexandrines, USR 3134 du CNRS, Alexandria, as part of the Réseau d’Excellence Européen Ramsès 2, organized by Empereur, J.Y. and C. Décobert: Alexandrie et l’économie de la Méditerranée médiévale, paper given.

Sep 2007 Hebrew University Jerusalem, Institute for Advanced Studies/German-Israeli Minerva School organized by Reuven Amitai and Christoph Cluse: Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Mediterranean Region in the Medieval Period (1000-1500): Case Studies in Christian-Muslim-Jewish Interaction.

2005-2006 CLIOHRES.NET (“Creating Links and Innovative Overviews for a New History Research Agenda for the Citizens of a Growing Europe”), Network of excellence, group: „Power and Culture“ Conferences in Riga, Pisa und Cardiff, two papers given, one published. Dec 2005 Centre d’Histoire et civilisation byzantines et du Proche-Orient médiéval, Séminaire Espace et réseaux en méditerranée médiévale, mise en place des réseaux, les politiques d’Etat dans la formation des réseaux, Sorbonne, (Paris), paper given: “Les relations entre Venise et le Proche-Orient : La ville portière Alexandrie entre politique métropolitaine et les intérêts marchands”.

Dec 2005 Centre d’Histoire et civilisation byzantines et du Proche-Orient médiéval, Séminaire Espace et réseaux en méditerranée médiévale, mise en place des réseaux, les politiques d’Etat dans la formation des réseaux, Sorbonne, (Paris), paper given: “Les relations entre Venise et le Proche-Orient : La ville portière Alexandrie entre politique métropolitaine et les intérêts marchands”.

Apr 2005 IFAO (Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale) – ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt): Research Programme Exercising Power in the Age of the Sultanates: Production, Manifestation, Reception (Cairo: 2003-2007), paper given «Les Vénitiens en Égypte: un élément clef dans la production du pouvoir économique du sultan».

May 2004 History Workshop, Venice International University, Trade, Colonies and Intercultural Contacts in the Venetian World, 1400-1650, (Venice), paper given on PhD project. 

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 Lectures

 

Feb 2009 Staff Infantry Brigade 7, Intelligence Branch, Winterthur, Switzerland, „Experiences as an UN Military Observer and an Outlook on Problems of the Current Middle East“.

Jan 2009 Zofingia Raetia, Chur, Switzerland: „Developments in Near Eastern Politics Interpreted in the Light of Game Theory and Economics of Conflict from the Perspective of a UN Military Observer and Intel Officer“

May 2008 10th Basler Renaissance Kolloquium (BRK), 23 May, Das Mittelmeer: Kontakt- oder Konfliktraum? paper given: „Der Kaufmann in der Tinte: Aspekte einer Ökonomie des Konflikts im östlichen Mittelmeerraum“

Mar 2006 Thurgovia Literary Students Society (Frauenfeld, Switzerland) Lecture on “Islam in Europa und die Integration der Türkei in die EU”.

Feb 2006 University of Basel, Historisches Seminar, research seminar Kolloquium zur Vormoderne, paper given: „Vergossener Wein: Ein venezianisch-mamlukischer Kulturkonflikt?“.

Sep 2005 Evening lectures, Presbyterian church of Frauenfeld (Switzerland), Lectures title: “Muslime unter uns”.

 

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Latest Revision: 2010-02-09
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