Flow of capital in the Mediterranean : financial connections between Genoa and Hospitaller Malta in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Abstract

The availability of capital was a common problem for European and Mediterranean states in the early modern period. The inadequacy of taxation revenues, the escalating costs of military engagement, the upgrading of war machinery and the need to strengthen defences meant that rulers became more inclined to turn to banks and wealthy merchants to obtain more rapid flows of currency. While the powerful states on the mainland battled in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, Hospitaller Malta, on the Muslim-Christian frontier, was engaged in the "lesser war" against corsairing. Faced with the Barbary threat from North Africa, and forever wary of the Ottomans, the Order of St. John had to grapple with the financial burdens of plying the surrounding waters, fortifying its defences and, probably most daunting, providing for a growing population. Although it never engaged directly in a full-scale conflict after the siege of 1565, Hospitaller Malta constantly faced shortages. The corso and income from property on the continent seldom met the needs of the Treasury, forcing the Order to search for alternatives to bolster its finances. ; peer-reviewed