Resumen de "Inclita domus sum": Historia, geografía y fuentes de la Valencia mercantil (siglos XIII-XVIII)
Valencia was a city without a harbour, despite the several attempts to fill it with the necessary infrastructure. This did not prevent the capital of the ancient subsidiary kingdom of the Crown of Aragon from being part of that network of trade routes that linked between them the main cities of the Mediterranean. On the contrary, during the 14th century, while the other ca- pitals of the Iberian Peninsula were facing the consequences of plague and famines, Valencia met unprecedented demographic and commercial growth, which intensified in the 15th century, the golden century of Valencian eco- nomy and culture. The first part of this essay summarizes the main phases of this local economic history and analyses its main characters: the foreign “nations” of merchants and artists in the city. The central part is focused on the Valencian commercial geography because, in spite of the absence of a harbour, the city developed a series of infrastructures and institutions that guaranteed its economic success. We will try to put ourselves into late medieval and modern merchant’s shoes and then we will follow his products from the seaside of Vilanova del Grao to the market square, passing through the warehouses, customs, etc. In the last part, we will show the main sources that allow to know Valencian trade and the studies that, since the 19th century, have built the history of the Valencian economy.
