Genoa and the Sea

Thomas Allison Kirk teaches in the Department of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Highly recommended. Choice An excellent appetizer on the subject of early modern Genoese naval power. Renaissance Quarterly This book treats a neglected subject-the maritime policy of an early modern Mediterranean state-with a new and refreshing approach. -- Jan Glete American Historical Review This is an interesting and important book, not least because it rescues from near oblivion (for the English-language reader) an important Italian and Mediterranean state whose experience in the early modern era merits greater attention than it has so far received. -- Christopher Storrs History A valuable addition to the literature on the economic history of the Mediterranean. -- Luisa Piccinno Business History Review Well researched and fluently written, the book is highly recommended not only for anglophone readers but to anybody. -- M. Elisabetta Tonizzi Journal of Transport History Provides plenty of food for thought regarding early-modern Italy and hopefully will stimulate more research into how the Italian states confronted their relative political and economic decline. -- Maria Fusaro Journal of Interdisciplinary History Not only a valuable contribution on the history of the republic of Genoa but also a new perspective on the changing Mediterranean world and the relationship of the Mediterranean with the rest of Europe during a period of sweeping transformations. -- Michela D'Angelo International Journal of Maritime History Genoa and the Sea succeeds in reintegrating the Genoese republic with its citizen bankers, its galley slaves, its competing clans and moneyed families in a fascinating, if dense, narrative of transition and transformation... Kirk has demonstrated the rich resources available for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Genoa, and should inspire much further research. -- Evelyn Welch Historian A refreshing approach... this book deserves to become the standard reference for maritime and economic historians of the early modern period. -- Michael Clark Great Circle An important contribution to the historiography of early modern Italy and its decline in the seventeenth century. -- Francesca Trivellato Journal of Modern History Well written and accessible, Genoa and the Sea merits reading by scholars and students of early modern Italy as well as by those who wish better to understand an old sea in a time of oceanic empire. -- Andrew Vorder Bruegge Sixteenth Century Journal The essence of this book is Kirk's detailed understanding of the economics of shipbuilding and trade, as they affected the diplomatic and economic fortunes of the city of Genoa. -- Gervase Rosser English Historical Review

• List of Illustrations and TablesPrefaceAcknowledgments1. The Republic Genoa in the Early Modern World2. The Genoese and the Republic of Genoa3. Public Galleys and Private Interests, 1559–16074. Diplomacy and the Rearmament Debate: The Weight of the Spanish Alliance, 1607–16405. The Lure of the World's Seas, 1640–16806. Galleons, Galleys, and the Free Port: Ships and Power in a Little Country7. Conclusion: A Century of Ships and PaperAppendix A: Operating Costs of "Free Galleys," 1646Appendix B: Breakdown of Annual OperatingExpenses of a Mixed-Crew Galley, 1652NotesBibliographyIndex