Who were the first "businessmen" to rival the kings throughout the world?
score:17
Speaking very generally, merchant groups were relatively marginalized in all pre-modern societies. They formed networks across city-states in different regions, but were not allowed to take strong political footholds in more centralized states. Political rulers saw economic power as a threat, a (sometimes necessary) evil and were generally successful in keeping merchants subordinate.
One relative exception that illustrates the rule might be Song China. Merchants were thriving there economically in a way the world had never really seen, but politically they were still pretty subordinate. Most dynasties that followed (most notably the Ming and Qing) frequently cracked down on merchant power and even tried to stop all external trade for long periods of time.
What happened in Europe from the early modern period onward was more or less unprecedented in world history. Merchants started to have formidable political power during the late medieval period in certain parts of coastal Europe, along the Baltic (under the Hanseatic League) and Mediterranean (especially what became Italy). The Republic of Venice was an early and important city-state to be effectively ruled by the merchant class. In time the Medicis managed to take the papacy. I'm not aware of any earlier example of merchants seizing that level of political power. So that might be my direct answer to your headline question.
If you'd like more detail on how merchant classes were constrained in pre-modern societies around the world and how different early modern Europe was from previous patterns, I recommend the book Pre-industrial societies: anatomy of the pre-modern world by Patricia Crone.
Upvote:2
Basically I am trying to paint a vivid mental picture of how the merchant class gained power equal to or above the kings in Europe, China, and India (or anywhere else). Who were the key merchants (what were their names or ethnicities), and what did they do to aid in this transition?
IMHO, you are trying to paint a picture of a world that has never existed! Some merchants or groups of merchants acquired considerable power, but ultimately they all had to bow their heads to their own sovereign or some rival feudal power.
There are some interesting examples, in which merchants could pressure princes into submission, challenge them on the field of battle or gain immense influence as financiers.
- Hanseatic League: Possibly the best example. A more or less loose alliance of cities which were governed by city councils dominated by local merchants. Most of these cities and towns owed nominal allegiance to the German emperor. In practice, the cities had to worry mostly about their more immediate neighbors, notably the dukes of Mecklenburg or the king of Denmark. The League participated in numerous wars as a naval power in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. It reached its zenith after a war against the Danish king Waldemar Atterdag: Initially the war was a total disaster as its fleet was destroyed unaware, while the army and much of the crew were disembarked for a siege. Yet, the humiliated League didn't disintegrate, managed to assemble a new fleet and forced the king to sign a favorable peace treaty. The second half of the 14th century is also an interesting time with respect to piracy, the Baltic Sea turned into a completely pirate-infested water. Numerous knights and lesser nobles had been recruited as privateers and to supply assieged Stockholm in a conflict over the throne of Sweden. Yet, when the war ended, these Victual Brothers didn't retire but turned to piracy.
- Italian city states: The Italian maritime republics were extremely rich and powerful. The most important cities were Genua and Venice. If it were not for Napoleon, Venice might still exist as an independent country! As far as I can see, there was less of a conflict between a traditional feudal aristocracy and a merchant class, but the aristocracy became heavily engaged in commercial endeavours. The power remained in the hands of a limited number of families who owned land, served in political positions as admirals etc. Piracy was a great issue in the Mediterannean Sea. The character differed. Muslim pirates (or privateers) attacked Christian seafarers and abducted passengers and crew into slavery - and Christian pirates did likewise with captured Muslim seafarers. The piracy didn't end until the early 19th century.
- Some names of important merchants/bankers or such families:
More post
- 📝 Why did General Billy Mitchell regard war with Japan as inevitable as early as 1912?
- 📝 History of the Levant and Israel - 2000 BCE to the bronze age collapse - where to find info?
- 📝 Did any of these artists ever meet?
- 📝 Giving a child to Thor
- 📝 Did the first emperor of China die of mercury poisoning?
- 📝 Is there historical evidence linking medieval forest clearences in Europe with the Medieval Warm Period?
- 📝 Were ancient Israel's neighbors henotheistic?
- 📝 What were whale brains used for?
- 📝 What were the alleged crimes that Conradin, King of Sicily and Jerusalem, was accused of?
- 📝 What rank was second in command on a U-boat?
- 📝 During World War II, in the U.S., were diapers available?
- 📝 Was the enclosure responsible for the supply of factory workers in 18th and 19th Century England?
- 📝 Why did the United States Army force Nez Perce to give up their own land?
- 📝 Do any Roman writings use the phrase Casus belli?
- 📝 Is there any resource for showing world territories at different years?
- 📝 Reception of Acemoglu-Robinson 'extractive institutions' thesis?
- 📝 Are there any existing foreign language teaching texts from the Ancient Near East?
- 📝 What kind of armor did the soldiers use in pre-gunpowder Southeast Asia?
- 📝 Prisons in 1800s in Russian Far East
- 📝 Egypt at the time of Cleopatra
- 📝 How were Mongols defeated on the field?
- 📝 Why did new religions flourish more easily in the past than they can possibly do today?
- 📝 Why didn't China assist in the Vietnam War like they did in Korea?
- 📝 What is the approximate date of this photo?
- 📝 Why do old kitchen stoves have circular openings in the upper surface?
- 📝 When the Chinese were driven out of modern Vietnam in AD 938, did an Vietnamese ethnic identity already exist?
- 📝 Had the French in Paris started to learn German before their liberation in 1944?
- 📝 Have any nations returned to their ancient homelands?
- 📝 Which is the first genocide?
- 📝 Eohric of East Anglia and the usage of lion heads on banners
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Who were the first "businessmen" to rival the kings throughout the world?
- 📝 Who were the first people to get divorced in Western* Christendom?
- 📝 Who were the first two democratically elected leaders of Russia?
- 📝 Who were the first leaders of the Yahwistic sect?
- 📝 Were there any monarchs of England or the United Kingdom who were not technically first in the line of succession?
- 📝 Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
- 📝 Why were Albanians the only nation in the Balkans who converted to Islam during the Ottoman occupation?
- 📝 Were the first sonic booms predicted?
- 📝 Who were the Huns and/or Xiongnu?
- 📝 Who was the first female ruler to be given the suffix, "the great"?
- 📝 Were Soviets invited to the Marshall Islands to observe the first hydrogen bomb detonations?
- 📝 Who were the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Western Europe?
- 📝 Who discovered first that the Moon does not have its own light?
- 📝 When and where were the first coins made showing the currency or a face value?
- 📝 What were the first local currency systems in history?
- 📝 Who was the first woman ruler?
- 📝 Who invented the first flag?
- 📝 When were US Presidential candidates' names first shown on the ballot?
- 📝 Who was the first head of government to support same-sex marriage?
- 📝 Who was the last English king whose first language was French?
- 📝 Who first combined the lateen and square sails that led to the carrack?
- 📝 Are there any historians who believe that the crusades were not motivated as a distraction from internal conflicts?
- 📝 Were there any westerners who entered the soviet bloc to escape capitalism?
- 📝 Who presided over the election and swearing in of the first Speaker of the House?
- 📝 Who was the first military force to use teppo (guns) in mass battles during the Sengoku-jidai?
- 📝 Who were the target audiences of this propaganda lithograph?
- 📝 Were doctors who were drafted in the 1950/1960 years, compelled to take an officer's oath of allegiance?
- 📝 Who were the Wright brothers' competitors?
- 📝 Who were the four US Federal Deputy Marshals escorting Ruby Bridges?
- 📝 When were the first timezones established?