THEY CONTROL COMMERCE AND DISTRIBUTE ITS GAINS
In 13th-century Afghanistan Marco Polo negociates rubies with a king, but avoids a "wild" place where he cannot trade
because there is no ruler.
The Voyage of Marco Polo by V. Chklovski, n.d.
Showing wealth, an aspect of royalty
- The Ashanti suzerain (Ghana) uses weights that are one-third heavier than others and declares that only kings or men of high rank deal with commerce, "as I do."
- The Mossi ruler (Burkina Faso) has a monopoly.
- The wives of the Yoruba king (southern Nigeria) wrap their wares in a cloth that lets them be housed and avoid tolls.
-- Aubin p. 445; references and a page of examples, n. 42.
In 17th-century France, the same system on a much larger scale:
Louis XIV Grants its Privileges to the East India Company, 1664, India Company Museum, town of Lorient |
Colbert Presents Members of the Royal Academy of Sciences to Louis XIV by Henri Testelin, 1667 / zoom |
Royal control slips into accounts:
- Monarchs set up state monopolies: Catherine de Medici initiates silk production in the 16th century, Louis XIV establishes production of mirrors and tapestries in the 17th, Peter the Great brings in craftspeople from Europe.
- Individuals' search for gain is under the king's control, indirect through the guilds or direct, as when Louis XIV gives Madame de Montespan, his favorite, three pirate ships to raid the Levant.
-- L'Allée du Roi (The King's Way): by Françoise Chandeneggor, 1981, p. 294.
- Nicolas Fouquet makes his Brittany fortress a center of Atlantic commerce without informing Louis XIV, a decision that hastens his fall.
-- Fouquet's project described:
Le Procès de Fouquet (Fouquet's Trial) by Simone Bertière, 2013, p. 103.
Suzerains distribute that wealth to retain or gain supporters and maintain the balance between clans, practices that keep it from being invested.
Distribution — or its absence — can indicate stability or change:
- Calling an Anglo-Saxon chief "ring-giver" means that he is behaving as expected. His society is probably cohesive.
- The formula "The Pharaoh gave this" suddenly appearing in Egyptian tombs may show that he seizes and distributes wealth, suggesting the need to control a growing economy.
- France's Henri IV establishes a much more powerful kingship and amasses treasure at the same time (toward 1600).
- "The queen is too kind..." is nobles' formula of thanks when Henri's widow, Marie de Médicis, shores up her regency by distributing that treasure. Later she gives royal income to a favori, a sign of growing power.
"Greedy" kings do not redistribute.
Mention of them usually means that
their power expands.
their power expands.
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