The development of the Florentine silk industry: a positive response to the crisis of the fourteenth century

Tognetti, Sergio (2005) The development of the Florentine silk industry: a positive response to the crisis of the fourteenth century. Journal of Medieval History, 31 (1). pp. 55-69. ISSN 0304-4181

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Abstract

The development of the silk industry in Renaissance Florence – as in other large Italian cities such as Venice, Genoa, Bologna and Milan – was a response to the profound economic changes wrought by the demographic crisis of the fourteenth century. The decrease in the available labour supply, the rise in labour costs, changes in demand and consumption, particularly among the upper classes, encouraged entrepreneurs in Florence and other urban economies of Renaissance Italy to direct their manufacturing interests towards the production of expensive high-quality goods. The Florentine silk industry was born in the last decades of the fourteenth century, and in the fifteenth century quickly developed into a dynamic industry capable of producing large quantities of luxury fabrics for export to all the principal European markets.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Florence, Gold-beating, Guilds, Manufacturing, Plague, Silk, Textiles
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History
Depositing User:	dr Vincenzo De Luise
Date Deposited:	15 May 2016 17:13
Last Modified:	15 May 2016 17:15
URI:	http://www.rmoa.unina.it/id/eprint/3283

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