- iBrarian

Cultural and technological transfer from the Southern Atlantic to Central
Europe in times of crisis and warfare (1640-1740).
France and Spain as intermediaries for the Habsburg territories
1. Scientific Aspects
a) Aims of the project and hypothesis
On the eve of the War of the Spanish Succession, Emperor Leopold I introduced the tobacco
monopoly in his Austrian Hereditary Lands in order to increase significantly royal income, which was
a clear sign that the American tobacco plant had become an important consumer item and a cash crop
in Central Europe by 1700. At the same time, at the turn of the 18th century, pistols which were
deposited by the citizens of Graz in the local arsenal show a lavish use of ivory and silver inlays, an
indication of the extended possibilities to obtain such Atlantic luxuries in Inner Austria. In 1640,
Alonso de Barba published his amalgamation method in Madrid which he had developped in Peru.
Whereas translations of Barba’s description were available in English and German in 1670 and in
1676, it took more than a century before, Ignaz von Born succeeded in adapting the Peruvian practice
for silver amalgamation to the requirements of Central Europe in 1785.
These are but three examples of the influence exercised by the Southern Atlantic world on Central
Europe in the Early modern period. They show the diversity of transfer processes, the variety of items
involved and the space of time required before foreign cultural elements and techniques were
considered akin. Notwithstanding this broad transformation of the European habitat, cultural and
technological exchange in the Southern Atlantic region has been perceived mainly as a one way
process directed mainly from the Old to the New World.1 Thus, the mestizaje of the indigenous
prehispanic American cultures has been dealt with in numerous studies2, but the impact of the New
World on the transformation of European cultures received less attention and was treated separately,
1
Cf. Pieter C. Emmer, The Dutch and the Atlantic Challenge, 1600-1800, in: Peter C. Emmer; Olivier PétréGrenouilleau; J.V. Roitman (ed..), A Deus ex Machina Revisited. Atlantic Colonial Trade and European
Economic Development, Leiden-Boston 2006, pp.151-177. A critical view is expressed by: Horst Pietschmann,
Die iberische Expansion im Atlantik und das Reich, ca. 1470- ca.1530, in: Claudia Schnurmann; Hartmut
Lehmann (ed..), Atlantic Understandings: Essays on European and American History in Honor of Hermann
Wellenreuther, Hamburg 2006, pp. 43-59, especially pp.47-49; cf. Bernard Bailyn, Atlantic History. Concept and
Contours, Cambridge, M.A./London 2005. Alfred W. Crosby, The Columbian Exchange. Biological and Cultural
Consequences of 1492. Westport 1972; idem, Ecological imperialism. The Biological Expansion of Europe,
900-1900, Cambridge-New York 1986. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel. The Fate of Human Societies,
New York 1997 has a broader geographical concept..
2
Eddy Stols; Werner Thomas; Johan Verberckmoes, Naturalia, Mirabilia & Monstrosa en los Imperios Ibéricos,
Leuven 2006; Lavallé, Bernard, Transgressions et stratégies du métissage en Amérique coloniale, Paris 1999;
Serge Gruzinsky, La colonisation de l’imaginaire. Sociétés indigènes et occidentalisation dans le Méxique
espagnole, XVIe-XVIIIe siècles. Paris 1988.
not as a part of a general transatlantic cultural exchange.3 Therefore, a more systematic approach to
the transfer of transatlantic cultures and techniques to the European atlantic shores, and from there to
the Central European hinterland is needed.4
Contacts between the Southern Atlantic region and Central Europe were already present in the late
medieval period.5 During the reign of Ferdinand I of Austria the connections intensified, as Ferdinand
grew up in Castile and Aragon. Therefore he was acquainted with the discoveries and the colonization
of the Caribbean, and the emerging American mainland.6 Even when he was removed from the Iberian
Peninsula to the Austrian territories by his brother Emperor Charles V, Ferdinand kept in contact with
the Iberian world and regularly received notices and artefacts from overseas. His imperial successors
up to Rudolf II did the same, especially when they returned from the Castilian court at Madrid where
all of them had stayed for several years. Thus the collections built up by the Habsburg family in
Vienna resulted from their direct contacts to the Iberian Peninsula and to the Southern Atlantic World.
Following the example of their princes, the nobility, wealthy merchant houses, humanists and
naturalists were eager to assemble exotic animals, plants and artificialia for their Wunderkammern,
3
Capocaccia Orsini, Lilia; Doria, Giorgio; Doria, Giuliano (ed.), 1492-1992. Animali e Piante dalle Americhe
all’Europa. Genua 1992; Rosa Casanova; Marco Bellingeri, Alimentos, remedios, vicios y placeres. Breve
historia de los productos mexicanos en Italia, México 1988. This is valid to a certain extent even for Simonetta
Cavaciocchi (ed.), Prodotti e tecniche d‘oltremare nelle economie europee, secoli XIII – XVIII, Prato 1998 and
for the publication for an exposition from Friedrich Polleroß; Andrea Sommer-Mathis; Christopher F. Laferl
(ed.), Federschmuck und Kaiserkrone. Das barocke Amerikabild in den habsburgischen Ländern, Wien 1992.
4
For cultural exchange cf. Robert Muchemblet (ed.), Cultural exchange in Early Modern Europe, 4 vols.,
Cambridge 2007. Studies concerning cultural transfer are very numerous, therefore only some titles in German:
for example Helga Mitterbauer; Katharina Scherke (ed.), Ent-grenzte Räume. Kulturelle Transfers um 1900 und
in der Gegenwart, Wien 2005; Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink, Interkulturelle Kommunikation. Interaktion,
Fremdwahrnehmung, Kulturtransfer, Stuttgart 2005; idem., Trilateraler Kulturtransfer. Zur Rolle französischer
Übersetzungen bei der Vermittlung von Lateinamerikawissen im Deutschland des 18. Jahrhunderts, in: Günter
Berger; Franziska Sick (ed.), Französisch-deutscher Kulturtransfer im Ancien Régime, Tübingen 2002, pp. 8197; Martin Mulsow, Konsumtheorie und Kulturtransfer. Einige Perspektiven für die Forschung zum 16.
Jahrhundert, in: Wolfgang Schmale (ed.), Kulturtransfer, Innsbruck-Wien-München 2003, pp. 131-143;
Christiane Eisenberg, Kulturtransfer als historischer Prozess. Ein Beitrag zur Komparatistik, in: Hartmut Kaelble;
Jürgen Schriewer (Hg.), Vergleich und Transfer, Komparatistik in den Sozial-, Geschichts- und
Kulturwissenschaften, Frankfurt a.M.-New York 2003, pp. 399-417; Josef Jurt, Das wissenschaftliche Paradigma
des Kulturtransfers, in: Günter Berger; Franziska Sick, Französisch-deutscher Kulturtransfer im Ancien Régime,
Tübingen 2002, pp. 15-38; Johannes Paulmann, Internationaler Vergleich und kultureller Transfer. Zwei
Forschungsansätze zur europäischen Geschichte des 18. bis 20. Jahrhunderts, in: Historische Zeitschrift 267
(1998), pp. 649-685; Michael Werner, Dissymmetrien und symmetrische Modellbildungen in der Forschung zum
Kulturtransfer, in: Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink; Rolf Reichardt (ed.), Kulturtransfer im Epochenumbruch FrankreichDeutschland 1770 bis 1815, Leipzig 1997, pp. 87-101; cf. the classical study of Michel Espagne; Michael
Werner, Transferts. Les relations interculturelles dans l’espace franco-allemand (XVIIIe et XIXe siècle), Paris
1988.
5
Franz-Heinz Hye, Tirol und Spanien. Historische Beziehungen vom 12. bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts,
in: Alfred Kohler; Friedrich Edelmayer (Hgg.), Hispania-Austria. Die Katholischen Könige, Maximilian I. und
die Anfänge der Casa de Austria in Spanien. Akten des Historischen Gespräches – Innsbruck, Juli 1992, WienMünchen 1993, pp. 172-181.
6
Christopher F. Laferl, Die Kultur der Spanier in Österreich unter Ferdinand I., 1522-1564, Wien, Köln, Weimar
1997; Friedrich Edelmayer; Arno Strohmeyer, Arno (ed.), Die Korrespondenz der Kaiser mit ihren Gesandten in
Spanien, vol. 1, Wien-München 1997. It is noteworthy that Ferdinand I was asked by Gonzalo Fernández de
Oviedo to support his petition to obtain a slave trade licens from Charles V so that Fernández de Oviedo could
finance the publication of the second part of his history on the Americas.
gardens, and cabinets as well.7 The long distances between the Western Atlantic shores of the Iberian
Peninsula, France or the Southern Netherlands on the one hand and Central Europe beyond the Alps
on the other hand were bridged by intermediaries in northern Italy, especially by the ones at Genoa
and Venice, or by those in Southern Germany, in Nürnberg and Augsburg.8
By the end of the Thirty Years’ War, the ties between the Iberian and the Austrian territories lessened
at first, but intensified somewhat during the War of the Spanish Succession when the later emperor
Charles VI spent several years in Spain, but then again they became rather weak when the Bourbons
finally gained the Spanish throne.9 Thus, since the mid-seventeenth century the relationship between
Central Europe and the rich and prosperous cultures and economies of the Southern Atlantic region,
and especially its western parts, must have still have relied on the Spanish connection.10 Nevertheless,
other European territories must have served to an increasing extent as mediators as well. Under the
reign of Louis XIV and Louis XV, France increased its cultural influence in the European hinterland
and even in the Austrian Hereditory Lands despite the political antagonism between the Habsburgs
and the Bourbons. The French impact became rather apparent with the emergence of Prince Eugene of
Savoy, a French nobleman serving in the imperial army, who played a crucial part in the
dissemination of the French culture at the Austrian court.11 At this time the first coffee houses opened
in Vienna and the consumption of chocolate became fashionable, whereas tea remained almost
unknown.12 During the same period the French possessions in the Caribbean improved their plantation
7
Arno Strohmeyer, Kulturtransfer durch Diplomatie: Die kaiserlichen Botschafter in Spanien im Zeitalter
Philipps II. und das Werden der Habsburgermonarchie (1560-1598), in : Wolfgang Schmale (Hg.),
Kulturtransfer, Innsbruck-Wien-München 2003, pp. 205-230; Renate Pieper, Papageien und Bezoarsteine.
Gesandte als Vermittler von Exotica und Luxuserzeugnissen im Zeitalter Philipps II., in: Friedrich Edelmayer
(Hg.), Hispania-Austria II. Die Epoche Philipps II. (1556-1598). La época de Felipe II (1556-1598), WienMünchen 1999, pp. 215-224. Scientific networks are analysed by Florike Egmond; Paul Hoftijzer; Robert Visser,
Carolus Clusius. Towards a cultural history of a Renaissance naturalist, Amsterdam 2007.
8
Eberhard Crailsheim; Eva-Maria Wiedenbauer, Central Europe and the Atlantic World: The mines of Idria and
the American demand for mercury (1556-1646), in: Renate Pieper; Peer Schmidt (Hgg.), Latin America and the
Atlantic World. El mundo atlántico y América Latina (1500-1850), Köln-Weimar-Wien 2005, pp. 297-318;
Philipp Lesiak; Renate Pieper, Redes mercantiles entre el Atlántico y el Mediterráneo en los inicios de la Guerra
de los Treinta Años, in: Antonio Ibarra; Guillermina del Valle (ed.), to be published by the Instituto Mora,
Mexico. These are some of the results obtained by the FWF- financed project (Nr. P 16748 – G08) on Seville as
a central knot between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic trade networks 1580-1650, which has just been
finished.
9
Cf the expamples in: F. Polleroß, A. Sommer-Mathis, C.F. Laferl (ed..), Federschmuck und Kaiserkrone (note
3), the financial relations are studied by Hildegard Ernst, Madrid und Wien 1632-1637, Münster 1991.
10
Ferdinand Oppl; Karl Rudolf (ed.), Spanien und Wien, Wien 1991;Wolfram Krömer (ed.), Spanien und
Österreich im Barockzeitalter: Akten des Dritten Spanisch-Österreichischen Symposions (Kremsmünster, 25. 30. September 1983), Innsbruck 1985. Privatbriefe Kaiser Leopold I. an den Grafen F.E. Pötting 1662-1673,
hg.v. Alfred Francis Pribram, 2 vols., Wien 1903-1904; Hans Juretschke; Hans-Otto Kleinmann (ed.), Berichte
der diplomatischen Vertreter des Wiener Hofes aus Spanien in der Regierungszeit Karl III, 1759-1788, Madrid
1970 ss.
11
Christa Riedl-Dorn, Prinz Eugen und Amerika, in: F. Polleroß, A. Sommer-Mathis, C.F. Laferl (ed.),
Federschmuck und Kaiserkrone (note 3), pp. 217-225; Jutta Schumann, Die andere Sonne. Kaiserbild und
Medienstrategien im Zeitalter Leopolds I., Berlin 2003; Andreas Pečar, Die Ökonomie der Ehre. Höfischer Adel
am Kaiserhof KarlsVI., Darmstadt 2003; Karl Gutkas (ed.), Prinz Eugen und das barocke Österreich, SalzburgWien 1985.
12
From the very extensive bibliography concerning coffe and cocoa: Roland Graf, Adeliger Luxus und städtische
Armut. Eine soziokulturelle Geschichte der Schokolade in Mitteleuropa vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, Wien
2006; Hannes Etzelstorfer (ed.), Küchenkunst & Tafelkultur. Kulinarische Zeugnisse aus der Österreichischen
economies, especially in Saint-Domingue, which France had finally obtained from Spain. Apart from
sugar plantations, the production of coffee and indigo was introduced.13 Thus, the purpose of the
project is to present further insight into the position of Spain and France as mediators of the Atlantic
cultural influences in the Austrian Hereditary Lands in the period after the Thirty Years’ War.
The study of cultural transfer should mainly concentrate on the material aspects and technical
knowledge as these two factors were disseminated through merchant and commercial networks as
well as through political contacts and thus left their traces in different contemporary sources.14
Changes of material and technical culture affected the living conditions and had a heavy impact on
demand and consumption.15 Even if the Atlantic influences were restricted to one specific social
group by crowding out demand and production of traditional goods or techniques at first, the effects
of cultural transfer would soon reach all social and economic strata.
Historiography dealing with overseas influences on the European material culture and especially on
the culture of Central Europe mainly concentrated on food and beverages.16 Other studies analysed the
collections of European elites; their libraries, gardens, Kunst- und Wunderkammern. Contemporary
sources and modern studies alike focus on the question how and when something new and strange was
Nationalbibliothek, Wien 2006, the chapter related to overseas products; Antony Wild, Coffee: A dark history,
New York 2005; Anne Radeff, Du café dans le chaudron. Économie globale d’Ancien Régime. Suisse
Occidentale, Franche-Comté et Savoie, Lausanne 1996; Nikita Harwich Valenilla, Histoire du chocolat, Paris
1992; Jürgen Schneider, The Effects on European Markets of Imports of Overseas Agriculture: The Production,
Trade and Consumption of Coffee (15th to late 18th century), in: José Casas Pardo (ed.), Economic Effects of
the European Expansion, 1492-1824, Stuttgart 1992, pp. 283-309; Karl Teply, Die Einführung des Kaffes in
Wien. Georg Franz Koltschitzky, Johannes Diodato, Isaak de Luca, Wien 1980.
13
For the French Caribbean: James Pritchard, In Search of Empire: The French in the Americas, 1670-1730,
Cambridge 2004; Maureen Warner-Lewis, Central Africa in the Caribbean: transcending time, transforming
cultures, Kingston u.a. 2003; Veren Shepherd, (Hg.), Slavery without Sugar. Diversity in Caribbean Economy
and Society since the 17th Century, Gainesville 2002; Olivier Pétré-Grenouilleau, Les négoces atlantiques
français. Anatomie d’un capitalisme rationnel, in: Dix-huitième siècle 33 (2001), S. 33-47; idem., Les négoces
maritimes français (XVIIe-XXe siècles), Paris 1997; David Geggus, The French Slave Trade: An Overview, in:
The William & Mary Quarterly 58 (2001), S. 118-138; Anne Pérotin-Dumon, La ville aux îles, la ville dans l’île:
Basse-Terre et Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, 1650-1820, Paris 2000; Silvia Marzagalli; Hubert Bonin (ed.),
Négoce, ports et océans, XVIe-XXe siècles. Mélanges offerts à Paul Butel, Bordeaux 2000; the impact of the
Atlantic in France: Erick Noël, Être noir en France au XVIIIe siècle, Paris 2006; John Thornton, Africa and
Africans in the making of the Atlantic world 1400-1800, Cambridge 1998
14
Michael Gassert, Kulturtransfer durch Fernhandelskaufleute: Stadt, Region und Fernhandel in der europäischen
Geschichte; eine wirtschaftshistorische Untersuchung der Beziehungen zwischen wirtschaftlichen Vorgängen und
kulturellen Entwicklungen anhand von Karten, 12.-16. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt a.M. 2001; Peter Kriedte, Vom
Großhändler zum Detaillisten: der Handel mit Kolonialwaren im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert, in: Jahrbuch für
Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1994, 1, pp. 11-36.
15
The classical study of the consumer culture: Daniel Roche, Histoire des choses banales. Naissance de la
consommation, XVIIe-XIXe siècles, Paris 1998; English translation: A History of Everyday Things, Cambridge
2000; cf. Michael North, Genuss und Glück des Lebens. Kulturkonsum im Zeitalter der Aufklärung, KölnWeimar-Wien 2003.
16
Annerose Menninger, Genuss im kulturellen Wandel. Tabak, Kaffe, Tee und Schokolade in Europa (16.-19.
Jahrhundert), Stuttgart 2004; the studies of the Settimana de Prato of 1997 edited by S. Cavaciocchi (ed.),
Prodotti e tecniche d‘oltremare (note 3), the articles of the Jahrbuch für Geschichte von Staat, Wirtschaft und
Gesellschaft Lateinamerikas 32 (1995) and those of the Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1994; R. Casanova,
M. Bellingeri, Alimentos (note 3); Roman Sandgruber, Bittersüße Genüsse. Kulturgeschichte der Genußmittel,
Wien-Köln-Graz 1986.
brought to Europe, finally adopted and considered to be part of the local culture.17 The difference
between an Asian or an Atlantic origin of the items transferred was not of major concern for the
contemporaries who designated exotica without any distinction as “Indian” since the 16th century, and
intensified this intermixture. At the end of the 17th century, American chocolate had to be served in
Chinese porcelain. Despite different climatic conditions, the volume of African and American goods
that made their way to Central Europe should have been considerably larger than the number of items
which were native to Asia, as the volume of transatlantic commerce was larger than that covered by
the East India Companies. Therefore, we suppose that the native region of an artefact, a technique or
an ornament and its way from the European Atlantic shores to the distant receivers at Central Europe
affected its transfer to the new cultural environment.The purspose of the present project is the
analysis of items only of Atlantic origin, but also to include the greatest possible variety of goods in
order to offer a systematic approach.
Studies on early modern cultural transfer from the Southern Atlantic region to Europe concentrate on
American objects as most native African goods had already been known in Europe since the
Antiquity. Especially in 1992, quite a number of works were published on dealing with the
dissemination of particular American products and objects in Europe. In addition, several catalogues
appeared that offered a more comprehensive view mentioning the American origin of plants and
animals which are now part of the European flora and fauna.18 Both specific studies and general
catalogues start from the results that can be perceived today. They try to determine the American
roots of each item. This form of analysis excludes cultural transfers that were aborted in former times,
and it does not consider items that were successfully adopted by Europeans at first, but later became
unimportant in the course of history.19 Therefore, the reasons remain unclear why some cultural items
like chocolate were transferred from the West and South to the East while others like yerba maté were
not. In the scope of the project we would like to keep in mind both possibilities and consider the fate
of a broad variety of cultural items and follow their traces from the Atlantic region troughout Europe.
17
Louise Robbins, Elephant Slaves and Pampered Parrots: Exotic Animals in Eighteenth-Century Paris,
Baltimore 2002; Bruce Robertson; Mark Meadow, Microcosms: Objects of knowledge, Al & Society 14 (2)
(2000), pp. 223-229; Maria Stieglecker, „Was ich eingethan und erkhauft, wille ich mit erster gelegenheit
überschickhen.“ Zum Gütertransfer von Spanien an den Kaiserhof, in: Friedrich Edelmayer (Hg.), HispaniaAustria II. Die Epoche Philipps II. (1556-1598). La época de Felipe II (1556-1598), Wien-München 1999, pp.
225-246; Herbert Haupt, Kunst und Kultur in den Kameralzahlamtsbüchern Kaiser Karls VI., 1715-1727, Wien
1993; Peter Claus Hartmann, Luxuskäufe des Münchner Hofes in Paris (1718-1727), in: Francia 1 (1973), pp.
350-360.
18
Cf. the bibliography mentioned in notes. 3, 13, 15.
19
The resistance of the ancient American cultures towards the cultivation of European grain and the protests
against European cattle which damaged the indigenous agriculture received numerous studies. Similar analysis of
the European resistance towards the introduction of American products are rather scarce except for the case of
the potato. For African resistance cf. Winfried Speitkamp, Der verweigerte Kulturtransfer. Bilder Afrikas vor der
Kolonisierung, in: Thomas Fuchs; Sven Trakulhun (Hgg.), Das eine Europa und die Vielfalt der Kulturen.
Kulturtransfer in Europa 1500-1850, Berlin 2003, S. 405-424.
Upt to now studies on transatlantic cultural exchange not only omited the analysis of aborted forms of
transfer but they neither dealt with the influence of war and crisis. On the one hand, military
operations destroyed ships, carriages and horses, ruined merchants and roads, disturbed
communication and commercial relations, thus disturbed transfer processes. On the other hand, a
military conflict might have had some innovative effects.20 These effects could have favoured cultural
transfer, as during periods of political and military crisis an interest in the hostile foreign culture
increased as did the mobility of the whole population, and not only the mobility of the military.
Furthermore, economic crises provoked by warfare led to an intensified search for new possibilities of
survival, and increased thus the willingness of the population to adopt new cultural items.21 In order to
determine the influence of political and military crises a longer period should be considered during
which peace and war alternated and coalitions varied. The period between 1650 and 1740 would
adapt to these preconditions as the political links between Central Europe and Spain loosened at first,
but tightened during the War of the Spanish Succession and led to a clear political opposition and
even to warfare in the 18th century. Relations between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and France
were tense during the whole period. Nonetheless the French power and luxury displayed by Louis
XIV and Louis XV were rather attractive, even for Central Europeans as the impact of Prince Eugene
in Vienna proved. In order to analyse the effect of foreign influences not only at the central court at
Vienna but at a regional level as well, the situation in Inner Austria, namely at its capital in Graz,
should be likewise taken into account.
Thus, the proposed project should increase our knowledge on the transatlantic cultural transfer to
Central Europe in four aspects:
-
it should offer a systematic approach including the numerous case studies already published
and give an impression of the intensity and the area covered by the influences coming from
the Southern Atlantic region,
-
it should include success and failure of transfer processes,
-
it should analyse the different impacts on peace, political crises, and war,
-
finally, it should determine to what extent Spain was replaced by France as a mediator
between the Southern Atlantic region and Central Europe.
20
Daniela Claudia Angetter, Kriege und ihre Auswirkungen auf den medizinischen Fortschritt anhand der 2000jährigen Geschichte Österreichs, Wien 2004; Timothy Garden, The technology trap. Science and the military,
London 1989; the low intensity of innovation in Early Modern armies is studied by: Jürgen Luh, Kriegskunst in
Europa, 1650-1800, Köln-Wien 2004.
21
The most famous example is the diffusion of the potato during times of war. Cf. Ralf Pröve, Le tourisme de
guerre au XVIIIe siècle. Typologie des modes de perception de l’armée et de la guerre dans les témoignages de
contemporains, in: Françoise Knapper, Alain Ruiz (ed.), Les voyageurs européens sur les chemins de la guerre et
de la paix du Temps du Lumières au début du XIX siècle, Bordeaux 2006, S. 157-165.