Table Of ContentHARVARD HISTORICAL MONOGRAPHS LXIX
Published under the direction of the Department of History
from the income of the Robert Louis Stroock Fund
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Industry and Economic Decline in
Seventeenth-Century Venice
RICHARD TILDEN RAPP
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England 1976
Copyright © 1976 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United S1a1es of America
Library or Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Rapp, Richard T
Industry and economic decline in seven1een1h-cen1ury
Venice.
(Harvard historical monographs; 69)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
I. Venice-Economic conditions. I. Tille.
II. Series.
HC308.V4R36 330.9'45'31 75-16149
ISBN 0-674-44545-7
PREFACE
The craft of economic history has undergone a transformation in
the recent past. Methods once alien to history have become routine for
today's researcher. Historical statistics, formerly used for casual
illustration, now form the basis of much investigation. For modern
studies this new approach has borne much fruit, yet, surprisingly,
early modern economic history has benefited less from the new
methodology. It is not easy to understand why this should be. As
several historians have shown, data are available, even if difficult to
locate and transcribe. Certainly the problems posed by the study of
economic change in preindustrial society are worthy of interest. Per
haps it is the fear of revisiting grounds already well trodden (a fear
which does not daunt historians of the modern era) which has retarded
the application of new methods to early modern history. The purpose
of this book is to shed new light on one long-studied problem: the
decline of Venice.
For more than a century historians have striven to understand how
and to what extent the city of Venice fell from the heights of com
mercial primacy to insignificance. It is one of the most commanding
topics in early modern economic history-the supreme case-study of
an economy experiencing the very opposite of "development." The
problem is, in a sense, undisguised and this enhances its appeal. The
economic fortunes of early modern Venice did not swing wildly with
exogenous events such as invasions or political upheaval. The Serene
Republic, to be sure, had its episodes of piracy, plague, and war, but
as serious as they were, they did not alter the course of the secular
trend. This is a fact which contemporary Venetians seemed to
appreciate very well-a remarkable insight, considering that those
"exogenous" events of the seventeenth century were full of drama
and portent in the life and history of the city. Still, economic observers
viii
PREFACE
were aware that the effects of the piracy problems early in the century,
the plague of 1630-1631, and even the long War of Candia (1645-1669)
were transitory. Their reports pay brief, pro forma attention to these
problems and then nearly always abandon temptingly simple excuses
in recognition of more real and more complex sources of economic
difficulty: international competition, failures in productivity, or
falling aggregate demand. They saw as we see now that production,
consumption, and the level of international trade are the factors that
count.
In this study I have chosen to concentrate on production, without
ignoring commerce and consumption. The response of industry to
adverse market conditions is the key to understanding Venice's fight
for competitive survival.
Instead of reviewing the separate industries of Venice one by one
(an impractical but often-used method) I have chosen to focus on the
factors common to all manufacturing enterprises: labor supply,
capital employment and technology, foreign demand, and the
influence of government on industrial activity. A statistical census of
employment is the backbone of this inquiry for the reactions of Venice
to a threatened commerce can best be revealed by measuring the
changing allocation of labor. In this fashion one may study structural
change in the economy of seventeenth-century Venice in much the
same fashion as change of a more general nature in a modern
economy might be analysed.
What emerges is not a radical reinterpretation of Venetian history
so much as a confirmation of what many scholars have begun to sus
pect already: that the catch-all phrase, "the decline of Venice,"
embodies a myth.
I am indebted to the U. S. Government Fulbright-Hays Program
and the Kent Fellowship Program of the Danforth Foundation for
generously providing me with the resources to conduct two years of
uninterrupted research in Venice and the United States.
Professor James C. Davis introduced me to the study of Venetian
history, and from the very onset of my interest in this subject I have
benefited from his constant advice and criticism.
I am particularly grateful also to Professor Martin Wolfe for his
advice and encouragement throughout the course of this project.
Professors William G. Whitney, Richard A. Easterlin, and Stefano
ix
PREFACE
Fenoaltea of the Department of Economics of the University of
Pennsylvania were kind enough to read parts of the manuscript and
offer valuable suggestions. Generous criticism from Mrs. Florence
Edler de Roover, Professor William Bouwsma, and Mrs. Madeleine
R. Gleason inspired many late revisions of the text.
It was Professor Frederic C. Lane who directed me to guild census
materials in Venice which ultimately led to the exploration of the
Naval Personnel Administration archive (Milizia da Mar). This
repository has provided the most fruitful body of data on the labor
.force of Venice. For this and countless other kindnesses I am deeply
grateful.
The late Professor Raymond de Roover was an unflagging source of
guidance to me ever since my introduction to economic history at his.
hand. His untimely death in 1972 deprived me of the long-awaited
chance to express publicly my thanks to him, and for me this is the
most bitter disappointment of the project.
I thank the staff of the Archivio di Stato di Venezia for extending to
me their traditional combination of helpful assistance and goodwill.
