Please read Goldthwaite pp. 29-66 and answer the following questions. Please remember that you are not allowed to consult outside sources and that each response should indicate the page number from the text where you found your answer. You don’t need to write in your own words, just find the short answer from the book I uploaded!!!
1. Goldthwaite lists at least four factors that contributed to an accumulation of wealth in fifteenth-century Florence. Name three.
2. Name one factor that contributed to the development of the cloth industry.
3. What contributed to the adoption of the Florentine currency (the florin) as an international standard?
4. Goldthwaite describes several major centers in Europe and the Mediterranean where Florentines established businesses or conducted trade. Name two and describe what kind of business was transacted there.
5. What were the two main textiles produced by the Florentines?
6. On what types of things did the men who made large fortunes in the economy spend their wealth?
7. What was the result of this type of spending on Florence’s society and economy?
8. To what does Goldthwaite attribute the high number of goldsmiths in fifteenth-century Florence?
9. How does Goldthwaite characterize the distribution of wealth among Florence’s population (i.e., is it concentrated in the hands of a few or many as compared to other contemporary European cities)?
10. What role did Florentine traditions of inheritance play in the economy and the wealth of individuals?
