Venice and Amsterdam

Published in a thoroughly revised second edition, Venice and Amsterdam is a comparative history of the elites of these two major cities in early modern Europe.

List of Illustrations viii

Acknowledgements x

Introduction to the Second Edition xii

Abbreviations xxvi

1 The Study of Elites 1

2 Structure 11

3 Political Functions 32

4 Economic Base

5 Style of Life

6 Training 84

7 Attitudes and Values 94

8 Patronage of the Arts 111

9 From Entrepreneurs to Rentiers 125

Appendix: The Investments of the Amsterdam Elite 140

Bibliography 142

Index 162

'His book is most enjoyable and should appeal not only to the historian but to the interested visitor of these two beautiful cities.' The Guardian Peter Burke is Reader in Cultural History and Fellow of Emmanuel College, at the University of Cambridge. A sucessful author, his pblished works include The Art of Conversation (Polity, 1993), and The Italian Renaissance (Polity, 1987). Venice and Amsterdam is a work of comparative history which examines the elites or ruling groups of two major cities in early modern Europe. By describing these elites and their similarities and differences, Burke is able to illuminate the societies which gave rise to them and to analyze some of the broader changes which were taking place in the course of the seventeenth century.

Focusing on the lives of 563 individuals - the procuratori di San Marco in Venice and the aldermen and burgomasters of Amsterdam - Burke examines the ways in which the elites recruited themselves, their wealth and their power; he describes their life-styles, their attitudes and values, and their tastes in the arts; and he analyzes their training from childhood via school and possibly university to their political apprenticeship. The lives of these elite individuals are related to changes which were taking place in Venice and Amsterdam and in the wider societies of which these cities were part.

An attempt to write 'total history' on a small scale, Venice and Amsterdam is an exemplary study in comparative history. The text has been thoroughly revised and updated for this new edition.