III. CURBING GROWTH: KINGS AND LIMITED WAR

 MENU: 3. Curb growth: kings & war

THESE KINGS ARE STATIC AND WEAPONS OR POWER SYMBOLS KEEP THEM FROM USING THEIR HANDS

They contain the search for profit and are contained themselves.  

Smithsonian Institute / zoom

King of Benin, 16th century

Zoom

Emperor of Byzantium, 11th century 

• Kings' function: maintain the status quo 

• Ritualized war, another barrier to growth 

Both change as economies expand. 

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III.1.

Kings' function, maintain the status quo 

III.1. KINGS MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO

Menu: 3.1.Kings maintain the status quo

RULERS DOMINATE THE ECONOMY, RESTRAIN COMMERCIAL PEOPLE AND ARE RESTRAINED THEMSELVES

This 14th century Catalan map of the western Sahara shows the ruler of Mali wearing a crown, holding a gold nugget and controlling trade. But he is seated and a gold nugget and scepter occupy his hands. 

The Atlas mountains are in north, the Niger river (indicated by wavy grey lines) in south / zoom

In brief

• Kings concentrate wealth, then make it circulate

• African kings, prestige and constraint 

• "Absurd" succession practices

• Kings of medieval Europe are also restrained

• Detour: Christ becomes a warrior or king

• Static kings are universal

• Commercial peoples' subordination

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Kings concentrate wealth, then make it circulate

KINGS CONCENTRATE WEALTH, THEN MAKE IT CIRCULATE

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.

In 19th century Africa...

Otupfuo Nana Osei Tutu II, king of Ashanti photo Mansan Zeida / zoom

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.

The Riches of Solomon by Jan van der Straet, 1564 © Musée du Louvre, dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Martine Beck-Coppola / zoom

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. 

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African kings, prestige and constraint