CULTURAL EXCHANGE IN

EARLY MODERN EUROPÉ

VOLUME II

Cities and Cultural Exchange in Europé,

1400- iy'oo

EDITED BY

DONATELLA CALABI
AND STEPHEN TURK CHRISTENSEN

;UROPEni\l
1CE
'OLUS1DBT1QISI

CAMBRIDGE
UNFVERSITY PRESS

CHAPTER TWO
Nodes, networks and hinterlands
Alex Cowan
Thekeytounderstanding theroleofurbancentresincultural exchange
is variability, not only between towns with different sizes and func-
tions, but aisoin terms ofchronological change. In other words, the
presenceofanurbancontextpersedidnotdeterminethediverseactiv-
itiesandactionswhichmaybedefinedascultural exchange. Certain
urbancentreswerefarmoresuccessfulthanothersin creatingpositive
conditions for such exchanges. Nor were these conditions constant.
Few towns retained the same degree of importance in a European
context for an extended period (ef. Figs. i and 2). Överthe three
centuriesberween1400and1700,theidentityofthemajorurbancen-
treschanged inresponse to important changesininternational trade
routes, commerciaiorganisationandpolitical organisation. Thiscan
beillustratedbythechangingfortunesofBruges,GenoaandVenicein
thefifteenthcentury,SevilleandAntwerpinthesixteenthandLondon,
ParisandAmsterdamin theseventeenth. Ifeachhada 'GoldenAge ,
it rarely lasted for more than rwo or three generations before being
supplantedbya newcentreofachievement.Antwerp,forexample,
displacedBruges asa majorcommercial centreintheLowCountnes
at the end of the fifteenth century, but löst this role following the
blockade ofthe River Scheldt beginning in 1585.'
Thecircumstanceswhichencouragedcertainurbancentrestoflour-
ishfor a time as centres for cultural exchange clearly had much to do
withtheireconomicfunctions,sincetradewasoneofthemajormotors
. See,forexample,P.0'Brien,P.Keene,M.'tHartandH.vanderWee(eds. ), Urban
Achicvemmt inEarlyModernEwopc:GoldenAysisAntwerp, AmsardamandLondon
(Cambridge University Press, 2001).
28
i
Nodes.,networksandhinterlands 29
for the movement ofgoods, people andideas;but it would beunwise
toassumeeitherthatspecificurbanfunctionsnecessarilyencouraged
cultural exchange,thatsuchexchangeswererestricted toa verylimited
number ofurban centres ofEuropean significance, or that once such
exchangeshadtakenplace,theircultural impactremained exclusively
urban.Onthecontrary,whilecertainkeycentresplayeda moreimpor-
tantrolethanothersinindividualEuropeanregions,andmanyofthese
comprise the case-studies on which the body ofthis volume isbased,
theprocess ofcultural exchange took place ina muchbroader context.
Theindividual circumstancesofcultural exchangesin eachurban
centre benefit from an approach which locates them in this broader
context. Towns and cities canbe regarded asnodal points in a series
of nerworks, which belong to several different categories. 2 At the
highest leve), we may idenrify: international trading networks by
water; international trading networks by land; major communica-
tions routes benveen administrative centres; major communications
routes benreen religious centres; routes between educarional centres.
Clearly manyofthese networks overlapped, particularly where a city
was multi-functional, combining, for example, a major trading role
withfunctions asanadministrative, educational andreligions centre.
One of the most complete examples is offered by Paris. The French
capital and location of the royal court from the early sixteenth cen-
tury, it wasalso a major site offrade supplied by land andwater (the
Seine),a religionscentre- Notre-Damewasa placeofpilgrimage -
and an educational centre - the Sorbonne attracted smdents from
many parts ofEuropé. It is far from surprising that the externa! cul-
tural stimuli associated with this multi-functionality left the Parisians
sated with novelty. 'The Parisians, who formerly considered every
newthingwhichappeareda marvel, arenolongerastonishedbyany-
thing, soaccustomed have they become to seeing stränge things. '3
Fora briefintroduction totheplaceofnetworksintheurbanhistöryofearlymodern
Europé, see A. Cowan, Urban Europé iSoo-ooo (London: Arnold, 1998), pp. 4-9.
Seealso below, Chapter 9.
Mémoires des Intendants sur UEtat des Généralités dresséspour 1'Instru. ctlon du Duc de
Bourgofne,in O.RanumandP.Ranum(eds.), TheCentury ofLouisXIV(Chicago:
Walker, 1972), p. 68.
3° ALEX COWAN
The nodal points on these networks were also the keys to other
nerworks oftowns, lesser in general importance, but closely linked to
themassuppliers andcustomers insubsidiarypositions ina regional, or
occasionallya national,hierarchy.Itisdebatablehowfartheselower-
rankingtownscanbeaccuratelyidentifiedassitesofcultural exchange,
buttheyplayed animportant partinthediffusion ofcultural novelties
and modifications. The circulation ofnewspapers and of translations
of Conrinental pamphlet literature from London to smäller centres
along the main trade routes where reading groups met in coaching
inns is a case in point.4
Cultural diffusion from major urban centres also followed other
patterns. Such centres ofexchange were focal points for interaction
berween the town and its rural hinterland, above all between the
local landed gentry and their regional centre. Often this relation-
shipincluded a bilateral exchangeofideasandgoodswhichcutacross
thelinkagesofthe urbanhierarchy. Gentry andthelessernobility had
otheropportunities totravelthanthemerchants, students, administra-
törs, pilgrims, soldiers and sailors based in towns. They visited each
other on their estates, undertook tours for their own education and
entertainment, andaboveall establishedrelations withprincely courts
and courtiers, who often represented an alternative cultural focus to
thatofthetowns.5
The preconditions for cultural exchange in an urban context can
be summarised as the interactionbetween flow and funcrion. Those
factors can be braken down in tum into smäller elements. Flows of
commodities, individualsandideaspartlydeterminedparticularroutes
endingatnodalpoints, butwerealso frequently determinedby pre-
exisringroutes.Suchchannelstendedtobetraderoutes,whetherornot
wewouldrecognisethemovementalongthemasinternationaltrade.
Consequently, whentrade routeschangedindirection orintensity and
theidenrityofthetradersandtheirgoodsalsochanged,wehavesome
4
For the roles ofinns, see also Chapt ers 9 and 16.
' A. Cowan, 'Cultural traffic in Lubeck and Danzig in the sixteenth and seventeenth
cemuries', in S. T. Christensen and B. Noldus (eds. ), Cukural Traffic and Cuhural
TransformationaroundtheBaltic Sea, 1450-^20{ScandinavianJournalofHistory 28
(200})), pp. 182-;.
Nodes, networh and hinterlands 3i
wayofunderstanding how,ifnotwhy, cultural artefacts, practicesand
ideas came into contact with each other.
The idea of certain urban centres as nodes presupposes that their
funcrions hadthe quality ofattractingmovement from elsewhere. In
itself, tradehadcertain cultural resonances, although themajor nodal
points in cultural networks rarely functioned solely as international
trading centres. As lime passed, the dominant role of many was as
centres of consumpt ion rather than of production or exchange. The
straightforward exchange of goods was capable of having cultural
meaning ifthe goods came from anareabeyond theconfines ofgener-
ally accepted cultural frontiers, particularly before suchcommodities
became familiar at their destination. A distinction canbe drawn in the
Baltic,forexample,betweengoodsrelatingtoshipbuilding- timber,
cordage,pitch,canvas- whichwereallsuppliedfromdifferentsources
within a relatively enclosed economic area, and those commodities
which were brought from further afield, such as English woollens,
furs from the Russian hinterland, metal goods from central Europé,
orspicesfromAsia. ' Ontheotherhand,therelationship betweenthe
distance travelled by a commodity and its cultural significance was
comparatively unimportant ifonly the source ofthe commodity had
changed. There was no real cultural significance in the fäet that the
wheat consumed in Mediterranean cities came successively from the
Mediterranean itself, from the Baltic and from the British Isles, or
that the spices used widely in European cuisine were delivered suc-
cessively through Venice, Lisbon, Anrwerp and Amsterdam. But if
the emphasis shifts from the commodity to the carrier, then changes
suchas these could anddid have considerable cultural significance.
Therolesofthemerchant,theship'scaptainandthesailorasagentsof
cultural exchange require discussion alongside those individuals who
remained atthe point ofdestination for much longer.7
W. J. Wieringa &t ai (eds.), The Interactions of Amsterdam, and Antwerp witk the
Bahicregion, 1400-1800, WerkenuitgegevendoordeVereenigingHetNederlandsch
Economisch-Historisch Archief 16 (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 1983).
Forthe ambiguity ofthevisiting merchant, see A. Cöwan, Toreigners andthecity -
thecaseoftheimmigrantmerchant',inA. Cowan(ed.'), MeiiiurraneanUrbanCuburc,
1400-iyoQ (Exeter: University ofExeter Press, 2000), pp. 4^-55; S. Cerutti, 'Glusritia
32 ALEX COWAN
Several changes in flow canbeidentified between the fifteenth and
seventeenth centuries. In international trade, these concerned com-
modities, routes and carriers. Comparatively fewnewcommodities
enteredtheEuropeanmärket:maize,newdyes,tobacco,coffee,choco-
late, all ofwhich entered Européfrom much further afield andpene-
tratedwellbeyondthemajorurbancentres. Londonerscouldvisitthe
späofTunbridge Wellsattheendoftheseventeenth centuryandfind
there 'two large coffee houses for teachocolate etc. '.8 Ofgreater sig-
nificancewasthesharpincreaseinthesupplyofexistingcommodities
suchassugar,spices, cotton andprecious metals, many ofwhichwere
now supplied from Africa, Asia or the Americas aswell asfrom tra-
ditional sources. As a result, the urban population ofEuropé enjoyed
greater accessto thesegoods. OneVenetianambassadörto London
describedtheEnglishas'alwaysmunching[sweets]throughthestreets
like so many goats'. 9 In the long term, the routes along which goods
werecarriedchangedfarlessthanthedirectionofflowandtheiden-
tityofthecarrier.Themajorroutesremainedwater-borne,acrossthe
Mediterranean,alongtheAtlanticseaboardwithilsnewandgrowing
links with the outside world, and between the Baltic and the North
Sea,reachingdeep into the Continent along rivers such asthe Seine,
the Rhine, the Rhone, the Vistula and the Danube. Inland, goods
were carried betweennorth and south along ancient routes between
ScandinaviaandItaly,andalongothersbetweeneastandwestwhich
after1500becamethemoreimportant.Alongtheseroutes,therewas a
gradualreversalinimportance ofthemajorcarrierswhichalteredthe
culturalpolarity ofkey tradingcentres. Inthecourseofthefifteenth
century,thedominancebythemembercitiesoftheHanseaticLeague
över the trade between the Baltic, the North Sea, England and the
Low Countries waserodedby the arrival of increasingnumbers of
e localitä a Torino in eta moderna; una ricerca in corso', Quademi Storici 89 (1995),
pp. 44^-86; andbelow, Chapter 16,
8 CeliaFiennes,1697,reprintedm R.C.RichardsonandT.B.James(eds.), TheUrlan
Experience. A Sourcdook: Englisll, ScomshandWehhTowns, t4So-voo (Manchester
University Press, 1983), p. 29.
»
Quoted in R. Mackenney, Tnulesmen and Traders: Tlie World oft hl Guilds in Venict
andEuropé,c. !25^-c. lBSo (London: Croom Helm, 1987),p. 156.
Nodes, networks and kinterlands 33
English,ScottishandDutchships.AccordingtotheDanzigcustoms
records,onlyelevenDutchshipsvisitedtheportin 1460.By1583,the
annualtotalhadrisentoövera thousand. 10A similarreversalofpolar-
ity took place in the Mediterranean, where the major carriers ofthe
fifteenthcentury,theVenetiansandtheGenoese,lösttheirlong-term
controlnotonlyoftheinternalcarryingtradebutalsooftheexportof
goodsfromtheLevantandtheItalianpeninsulatonorth-west Europé
from the låter sixteenth century onwards, partly as a by-product of
comperitionforspicesfromthePortugueseandtheDutch,andpartly
because of the inability of the Mediterranean industrial producers
and ship-builders to compete with cheaper goods carried at lower
freight rates by ships based in England and the Low Countries. So
many merchants from the Low Countries came to trade in Venice as a
result thattheVenetiangovernment appointed a consul forFlemings,
andlåtera secondrepresentative fromthenewlyindependentDutch
provinces. AlongtheAtlanticcoast,afterthesixteenth-century flow-
eringoftradebetween theIberianpeninsula andthe LowCountries -
primarily between Lisbon, Seville andAntwerp - much ofthat trade
was taken över by English and Dutch ships, with a smäller French
contributioninthelatterhalfoftheseventeenthcentury. Thegrowth
ofAmsterdam and the subsequent movement there of internarional
commercialactivityfromAnrwerpinthe15808isa well-knownstory.
The establishment of joint-stock companies in both London and
Amsterdam in the course of the seventeenth century linked them to
the East Inclies, the West Indies, Africa, the Baltic and the Levant,
and both facilitated and symbolised the new geographical scope of
merchants and shipping from these two key centres.
The absence of a complete match berween migratory flows and
suchmajor routesisexplainedbythegreatdiversity ofmigrarion pat-
terns, only a fewofwhichweredirectly linkedto internationaltrade.
J. Schildhauer, 'Handelsbeziehungen bedeutender Ostseestädte z,u den Niederlan-
den , in Wieringaet al. (eds), The Interaction, pp. 23-9, esp. pp. 23-5; see also
Karl-Heinz Ruffmann, 'Engländer und Schotten in der Seestädten Ost- und West-
preussens , Zeitschrifr fur Ostforschung 7 (1958), pp. 17-39.
G. Devos and W. Brulez (eds. ), Ma.rchandsflamands a Veniw, vol. II, !SoS-i6~2l
(Brussels-Rome: Institut Historique Beige de Rome, 1986), pp. vi-ix.
34 ALEX COWAN
Leavingasidetheintenseregionallybasedmigrationtotownsinsearch
of subsistence or betterment, trade routes carried those whose occu-
pationsweredirectly linkedtotransport orcommerce. Merchants and
commercialagentstravelled abroadandsettledwherebusinesswasto
be found. Sailors sought employment in expanding ports. Religious
migrantsengagedintrademovedtoothertradingcentreswherethere
waslessriskofpersecution, andwheremanyofthemalreadyhadrel-
atives orbusiness contacts. Thepattern ofHuguenot migration from
France to England, Germany and the Netherlands was shaped by
suchconsiderations. Sotoo wasthe influential shift ofmerchants from
Antwerp to Amsterdam from the 15805, and the movement ofjews
from the Iberian peninsula and Greeks from the Ottoman Empire.
Migrantsinsearchofreligiousorpoliticalasylum,ontheotherhand,
chosedestinarions accordingtodifferent criteria. Catholicexilesfrom
England during the reign of Elizabeth were attracted to the Span-
ish Netherlands both by the area's intense religious beliefs and by
its proximity to their homesacrossthe North Sca.Movements such
asthese involved significant groups ofpeople. From a cultural point
of view, the movements of individual artisans, musicians, sculpt ors,
architects, painters, thinkers were very small in scale but dispropor-
tionately influential in their impact. The changing identity of their
desrinanons was intimately linked to changes in urban functions and
to the decline of international trade as the most important criterion
for attractingcultural migrants.
Flows to and from nodal points in urban networks were strongly
influenced by the functions ofeach city. In the upper ranges ofurban
hierarchies, few centres based their prosperity and importance on
a single function and it is of little use to categorise them as port
cities, industrial cities, inland trading centres etc. There was a fre-
quentcongruencebetweencommercial entrepötsandadministrative
centres. In the earlier part ofthe period, many, but not all, were city-
stares, with their own governing institutions, territories and politi-
calindependence. '3 Venice,FlorenceandGenoa,andthelargerfree
j2 See below, Chapters 5 and 6.
13 M. Y{. \/{imse. V{(eÅ.
), AComparativeStudyofT h. inyCuy-StatåCuhures:AnInvestiga-
tion Conductedby the. Copenhagen Polis Centre (Copenhagen: Roya!DanishAcademy
ofScieiicesand Letters, 2000).
Nodes, networks andhinterlands 35
Imperial Citiesofthe HolyRoman Empire suchasLubeck,Augsburg,
Strasbourg andNuremberg, wereamongst themost important. Else-
where, large trading centres also experienced considerable political
autonomy, asin the cases of Barcelona, Lyon and Antwerp. As cities
with local, regional and international prestige, they fostered activi-
ries and encouraged artistic and architectural endeavours intended to
express these qualities and traditions to visiters and inhabitants alike.
Despite setbacks in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many of
these older centres drew on the confidence of their eariier successes
and on continuing revenues from international trade to make public
statements about themselves. The Renaissance fasade of the Town
Hall in Liibeck, and the remodelling ofSt Mark's Square in Venice,
at a time when both cities were being overhauled by comperitors in
internarional trade,were testaments to their sustained self-belief, as
muchasthenewTownHallinAmsterdamwasevidenceofthatcity's
new-found importance. '4
From i $00thepersistence ofcultural exchangeinwestern Europe's
older urban centres wasincreasingly overshadowed by thegrowth of
capita!citiesandotherlargeadministrative centres. Inmanyregions
therelativelylooseagglomerationsofpowerwhichhadcharacterised
the central Middle Ageswere replaced by the territorial states with
whichweareall familjär,governedfrom thecentre,fmancedbyrel-
atively efficient fiscal systems, operating on the basisoffairly unified
legalsystems, andincreasingly defendedandcontrolled byprincely
armies. At every point in western Europé, with the exceptions of
Englandandto someextentFrance,wherecentralisedstateshadsur-
vivedfromearlierperiods, theseterritorial stateswerecreatedthrough
accrerionandconcentration.GermanandItalianprincelyunitssuchas
theElectorateofSaxonyortheGrandDuchyofTuscanyareamongthe
bestknown,buttheconstructionofthekingdomofSpainthroughthe
dynasticmarriage oftherulinghousesofCastile andÄragon,followed
bytheconquestofGranada,andtheenlargement oftheIdngdomof
France through theintegration ofthe apanages ofBrittany, Provence
and Navarre also fit into thispattern. Parisand London, whichwere
4 W. Braunfels, UrbanDesignin WesternEuropé:RegimsandArchitecture,900-iffoo
(Chicago: Universlty ofChicagoPress, 1988).
36 ALEX COWAN
two of Europe's largest cities and, from the låter seventeenth cen-
tury, the capitals of the rwo dominant European powers, generally
headanylistofprincelycapitals,butthereweremanyothers:Vienna,
Florence, Tunn, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Copenhagen, Berlin, Vies-
den,Leipzig,Munich,MadridandStPetersburg. InpartsofItalyand
theLowCountries, thisrolewasundertaken bythevice-regal centres
ofthe SpanishEmpire: Palermo, Naples, Milan, Brussels. Thesewere
notcapitalsintheirownright(althoughsomehadfulfilledthatrolein
earlierstates),butservedassitesofroyalpowerandsourcesofregional
authority.Rome,asthespiritualcentreofthepre-ReformarionChurch
andthephysicalmanifestationofCounter-Reformation Catholicism,
exercised itspull throughout Europé. '
These capitals and subsidiary capitals imposed their own cultural
networkacrossEuropé.Manyofthemwereapartfromandoriginally
smällerthanthemajortradingcentres, buttheybecameincreasingly
dynamicnodesina nexusofintellectual andartisticmovement which
was associated with a rising level of conspicuous consumption of
consumer goods. The quesuon anseswhether it wasthepresence of
princelycourtswhichmadethesecitiessuchculturalmagnets,and,if
so. to what extent the courts were distinct from the urban centres in
which they were located. The presence ofthe court andthepnncely
administration created its own kind of enclosed culture which was
disrinct from that ofthe rest ofthe city, just asthepalaces and admin-
istrative buildings in many capitals, particularly in Germany, were
physicallyseparatefromthecityitself.Thereisnodoubtthat,despte
theirseclusion,courtshada very strongimpactontheculture ofthe
citiesthemselves. 'Court' and'city' cultures couldbein conflict, but
oftenthatcreated a kindofhybrid culture whichenabledthe city to
'> G. C. Argan, L'Eumpe descaficales iSoo-yoo (Geneva: Skira 1964); P. Francas-
tel (ed.), L'urbanismedePariset de1'EuropctSoo-lSSo(Paris:KlmAsieck,^ 1969);
E. Franjois, 'Stagnation, regression, réconversion: lesvilles endéclinde1'espace
allemand, l6o»-l8oo', Hiltoue, Economie et Société 8 (1989), pp.
'PhilipIIandtheartofthecicyxay',JournalofInterduciplinaTy Humry 17('986).
pp.lli-3J;M.Pollak,Turinl5S4-ieSo:UrbimDesign,MititaryCukureandthcCre-
P. Clark
ation oft he Alsiilutist Capital (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991);
andB. Lepetit(eds.), CapitatCitiesandtheirHinterlandsin Ea.rty ModemEuropé
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 1996).Seealsobelow, Chapters 14and17.
Nodes, networks and hinterlands 37
actasa filter through whichcourt-derived cultural influences spread
beyondthecapital.Courtierslivedwithinthecapital.Theyweretobe
seen travelling through it in the latest wheeled vehicles or on horse-
back. They employed servants and artisans to cater to their needs.
Their presence gave an enormous boost to the luxury trades, par-
ticularly where the prince wasengaged in constructing a capital city
from scratch. Specialised artisans, tapestry-makers, painters, musi-
dans, travelled long distances for employment. The court at Turin
attracted men from as far afield as Flanders. '' Others worked for cus-
tomersbothatcourt andoutside. Thedividinglinebetweenmembers
oftheurbaneliteandcourtiers from outsidethecapita!citywasrapidly
eroded. Evenifmerchants found thatit wastheirwillingness to offer
credit to courtiers which opened doors for them, the possibility of
administrative careers at court for their sonsspurred them to take a
close interest in fashion so that both they and their sons would be
presentable. The court's impact onthedevelopment ofwider material
culture was thus considerable.
Thecultural infiuenceofcities,bothcapitalsandothermajorurban
centres,shouldnotbemeasuredsolelyintermsofculturalinnovation
within the cities themselves. It extended much further into cultural
hinterlands in a way which wasmore comprehensive than the tricUe-
downeffectoftradewithinregionalurbanhierarchies. Suchcultural
hinterlands canbeconsideredonseverallevels. Theyweresimilar,but
rarely identical, to hinterlands definedineconomic orpolitical terms.
Cultural influences were moderated by the distance travelled from
major urban centres. '7 The greatest imensity ofmovement between
urban centres and their rural hinterlands took place within an area
definedbythetimetakentocompletea returnjourneywithina single
day. There was movement in both directions - by landowners and
peasantsinto cities, andout into the countryside byurbanmerchants,
officials, lawyers and owners oflanded estates. It was an established
(il-73; R. KagT' practiceformerchantsandurbanprofessionalstoacquireruralestates
S. Cerutri, 'Matrimoni nel [empo di peste: Torino nel 1630', Quaderni Smrici 19
(r984), PP. 68-70.
H- K-Schulze, StädtisckesUm-undHinterlandinvorindustnelter Zeit(Cologne and
Vienna: BöhlauVerlag, 1985).
58 ALEX COWAN
andto spenda gooddealoftheir time there. Theybrought newfash-
ions,ideasandpatternsofbehaviourtothecountryside,andcontinued
to draw on their towns for goods and entertainment, just asthe rural
nobilitymaintainedtownhousesfora similarpurpose. Suchlinkages
could be quite extensive, as the wealthiest townsmen bought more
distantestates.ProsperousVenetianfamilies,forexample,builtvillas
in an areastretchingacrossnorth-eastItaly.
Himerlandswere alsodefinedby easeoftransport, particularly by
water. The Rhine, the Rhone, the Seine, the Thames, the Elbe and
the Vistula all served as cultural highways for urban centres. The
influenceofDanzigonitsPolishhinterlandalongtheVistulaenabled
the growing cultural influence ofthe Dutch to reachinto the houses
of rich and not so rich alike. Tiled ovens and stoves, blue and white
pottery, and'Flemish' tapestries, manyofwhich hadnotbeendirectly
imported from the Netherlands butweremanufactured m the'Dutch
style in Danzig itself, were exported to smäller Polish towns and
landed estates. There was a comparable diffusion ofboth goods and
technologies from the LowCountries uptheThames to London and
thence throughout England.
If many ofthe geographical factors defining cultural hinterlands
undermined the significance of political frontiers, or ignored them
entirely, the importance of those frontiers was emphasised by the
expanding influence of territorial states and ideas of nationality and
citizenship. Capital cities andtheir regional equivalents increasingly
became centres for deliberate policies ofpolitical expansion, in which
cultural influences took their place alongside administration, the law
andmilitary force. '9 In theseterms, thecultural hinterlandextended
throughout theterritorial state andleft its markasmuchalongcon-
testedfrontiers,wherethephysicalsignsofthesupremacyofa central
authority in the form offortifications decorated with the symbols of
'8 M. Bogucka,'Lesrelationsentréla Pologneet lesPays-Bas(xvle siecle,premiére
moitié xvne siécle)', Cahicrs dc Clio 78-9 (1984), pp. i-l8, esp. pp. 14-1); Keene,
'Material London .
19 Scetheessaysin Clark andLepetit(eds.), CapitalCities,and C. Tilly andW P.
Blockmans(eds.), CitiesandthåRiseofStatesinEuropé.A. D, 1000to 1800(Boulder,
San Francisco and Oxford: Westview Press, 1994); cf- below, Chapter 3.
Nodes, networhs andhinterlands 3^
authorityemphasisedthepresenceofitspower,asitdidwithinmajor
urbancentreswithlongtraditions ofpolitical andeconomic autonomy.
Souchal'sstudy oftheequestrianstatuesofLouisXIVwhichwere
set up in several major French towns during the years following
the revocation ofthe Edict of Nantes indicates some ways in which
the monarchical influence was diffused to key parts ofthe kingdom.
Towns,includingParis,wereinvitedtobidfortherighttoerectsuch
a statueina majorsquare. Thebidsweregenerallyaccededtointhose
areaswherethekingandhisadvisers wereleastconfident ofsupport. 20
Souchal's argument canbedeveloped, however, for this process also
took place within Paris's cultural himerland and within the capital
itselfthere wasalready a tradition oferecting statues inmajor squares,
includingequestrianstatuesoftheking.Thus,whentheking'srequest
for a bid arrived at a major provincial centre, its notables, who had
already been to Paris on royal business and so were well aware of
the fashion for statues, were receptive to the king's suggestion, since
it corresponded to the image they had already formed of how their
towns should be.
There remained many parts ofEuropé, however, where the pres-
enceofsmällerterritorialunitswithfluctuatingpoliticalandeconomic
power created conditions in which cultural influences were transmit-
ted to lesserurbancentres from several directions. Suchareascouldbe
called multiple cultural hinterlands, ofparticular interest to the histo-
rianofcultural exchangebecauseoftheiropenness,andtheopportu-
nities whichthis created for cross-fertilisation. The United Provinces
andtheareaaround Lubeckofferrwoexamples ofwaysinwhichthis
operated. The United Provinces comprised a unique network ofspe-
cialisedcitiesincloseproximitywhoseinteraction favoureda strong
cultural flowering, which wasthen exported, above all to Scandinavia
andtheEaltic. 2' Amsterdam andRotterdam asthegreatinternational
tradingcenrreswerecomplementedbyTheHagueasthecourtcentre
F. Souchal, "Des statues équestres sous le régne de Louis XIV, in G. Livet and B.
Vogler (eds. ), Pouvoir, ville et sodétéen Europé i65o~iy5o (Paris: Ophrys, 1983),
pp. 309-16.
For the influence of Dutch culture, see Christensen and Noldus (eds. 1. Cuhural
Traffic. ' --. --,-."
40 ALEX COWAN
and by Leiden asthe centre ofideas through its university. " Liibeck,
on the other hand, lay in a kind ofcultural triangle. The decline ofits
international tradinglinks in the course ofthe sixteenth century had
drained away its earlier reputation as a source of fine wood-carving,
for example; but the city's population, and in particular those of its
elite who had landed estates, retained an openness to external cul-
tural influences filtered on the one hand through its close neighbours,
Hamburg and Copenhagen, and on the other through the youthful
travelsofitselite. 23
As the case of Liibeck suggests, an alternative way of envisaging
cultural hinterlands isascontexts forthepersonal transmission ofprac-
ticesandtraits from urbancentresby visitorsto them. Thisoperated
in a multiplicity ofways. Many suchviskors madeuse ofecclesiasti-
cal, judicial,educarionalor court institutions in majorcitiesandthen
returned home. Not every major city had a university, nor was every
university located in a major city. The opposite wasprobably the case
untilwellintatheeighteenthcentury. Ontheotherhand,capitalcities
inparticular offered otheropportunities to study. LondonhaditsInns
ofCounfor thelaw,specialopportunitiesfor traininginmathematics
and, by the låter seventeenth century, a lively environment for the
exchangeofscientificideas.As state administrationsdeveloped, they
too offered forms oftrainingfor youngmenwhodid not necessarily
intend to make a career in the civil service. As the sons oflandowners
or professionals, they came to study in the capital in order to apply
their studies to their future careers outside. As agents ofcultural diffu-
sion,studentsdidfarmore thanapplywhattheyhadlearned. Several
yearsoflife in London,Paris,Florenceor Vienna,albeiton a limited
budget, had exposed them to ideas, fashions and a range ofmaterial
culturescarcelykno-wnwheretheybadgrownup.Onreturninghome,
these men were instrumental in opening up the märket for luxuries,
12 See in panicular the essays by Lesger, Bok, Hoftizer and Davids in O Brien (ed. ),
Urban Achievement.
^ H. Heckm-dnn^BaumeisterderSarockundRokokoifiMeck/enburg, Schleswig-Holstein,
LUbeck und Hamburg (Berlin: Verlag Bauwesen; 2000); D. Lohmeier (ed. ), Ane
und Måne. Studien yr Adelskukur des Barock^eUaltern in Schweden, Dänemarh und
Schleswig-Holstein(Neumunster: Wachholz, 1978).
Nod&s, networks andhinterlands 41
newclothes, books andideas. They were to befound atthe forefront
ofdiscussion groups and ofclubs set up to discussthe latest ideas.
Exposure to life in the capita! hasbeen characterised aspromoting a
taste for 'modernity'. 24
Otheragentsofcultural diffusionwerethosewhohadgonetomajor
cities in the hope of settling there, but who failed, and those whose
visitswereintentionallyshon. Thecourtierwhowasunableto obtain
preferment, whobecameindebted,whowasinvolved ina scandal,or
whosomehowfailedtoshowhisoriginalpromiseandreturnedhome
unmarriedandempty-handed,hadstillbeenexposedto a wayoflife
which marked him. As for the seasonal viskor, the cultural impact
ofexposure to shops andsightswasrenewedon eachvisit, leaving
a taste for more of the same doser to hand. It has been suggested
that their servants took an equal interest in the latest city fashions
and returned home to display their new-found cultural superiority. 2'
Likewise, thenumerous failed apprentices whoreturned to the coun-
tryside andprovincial towns whence they came took back something
ofthe innovative culture ofthe city.
J.Barry, "Populärculture in seventeenth-century Bristol', in B. Reay(ed.), Populär
Cu/rarftBar/^Ayoi/erBfn^&ni/(London:CroomHelm,1985),pp. 6i-8;N.David-
son, '"A. S much for its culture as for its arms": the cultural relations ofVenice and its
dependentdties', in Cowan(ed.), Meiliterranean Urtan Cullure,pp. 197-214.
M- Reed, 'London andits hinterland, 1600-1800: theview from theprovinces', in
ClarkandLeperit(eds.), Capita/Cities,pp.69-70.