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Although Jews were at the centre of commercial activity in medieval Europe, a talmudic ban on any wine touched by a Gentile prevented them from engaging in the lucrative wine trade. Wine was consumed in vast quantities in the Middle Ages, and the banks of the Rhineland hosted some of the finest vineyards in northern Europe. German Jews were, until the thirteenth century, a merchant class. How could they abstain from trading in one of the region's major commodities? In time, they ruled that it was permissible to accept wine in payment of debt, but forbade trading in it, and they maintained that ban throughout the Middle Ages.

Further study in the twelfth century, however, led Talmudists to discover that Jews were only forbidden to profit from trading in Gentile wine if they dealt with idolaters, but that trade with Christians and Muslims was permitted. Nevertheless, the German community refused to take advantage of this clear licence. Using Jewish and Gentile sources, this study probes the sources of this powerful taboo.

In describing the complex ways in which deeply held cultural values affect Jews' engagement in the economy of the surrounding society, this book also illustrates the law of unintended consequences-how the ban on Gentile wine led both to a major Jewish contribution to German viticulture and to the involvement of Jews in moneylending, with all its tragic consequences.

Winner of the Canadian Nautical Research Society's Keith Matthews Award for Best Book, 2024

Celebrated in the novels of Joseph Conrad and vintage films, tramp ships - the precursor of bulk carriers - are not well understood today. Yet, these vessels transported in bulk essential minerals and ores, grains, timber, and other commodities and played a vital role in creating the modern global economy. While the histories of some individual tramp firms have been written, this book uses personal correspondence and surviving company records to chart the development of the entire industry - the largest in the world- during a period of transformational technical change. Who were the bold, risk-takers who founded tramp firms? How did they mobilise the resources needed to enter this dynamic sector, build immense companies, and accumulate vast fortunes? Why did others fail? This study reveals how executives learned 'the art' of managing tramps and developed strategic networking skills. Tramp shipping resonates with many of today's high-growth industries: it was an information intensive, high stress operation that required rapid - sometimes instinctive - decision-making within a turbulent market. Building business networks was supported by a distinctive culture that streamlined communication. This innovative study places information, knowledge, learning, culture, and communication at the centre of the analysis in order to transport readers into the minds of those fascinating entrepreneurs who helped build the modern world.

The book examines female entrepreneurship in the nineteenth century. Economic history has long accorded women entrepreneurs a very minor place, relegating them to the status of historical anecdotes. The hypothesis of women's withdrawal from the business sphere after the eighteenth century has long dominated. However, this view has recently been subject to a fundamental questioning. Women did in fact actively contribute to economic development by occupying key positions in the business sphere as independent workers, investors and entrepreneurs. Businesswomen were no exception in the nineteenth century. They ran businesses of all sizes and in a wide range of industrial sectors.

This book helps to bring nineteenth-century women entrepreneurs out of invisibility, by examining their entrepreneurial practices and shedding light on the role of the legal framework in which they operated. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of economic history, business history, history of law, and economics and management sciences in general, interested in a better understanding of female entrepreneurship in the nineteenth century.