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Kenneth O. Elvik, Editor IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
BOOK REVIEWS
Raymond de Roover,
Business, Banking,
and
Economic Thought in Late Medievel and Early Modern Europe, Selected Studies of Ray-mond de Roover. Edited by Julius Kirshner with an introduction by Richard A. Goldthwaite. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974, pp. viii, 383, paper $4.95).
Reviewed by Edwin Bartenstein California State University, Northridge
There are many who agree that Professor de Roover was one of the finest historians of business in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. His sources were usually pure, direct from the origi-nals; and when he used a secondary source he documented thor-oughly and often with an evaluation. He was the ultimate researcher. His writing is clear and interesting, full of commentary and explana-tion that takes the reader back to the problems of the thirteenth to fifteenth century businessman. As a reader you experience the development of manipulative techniques of foreign language, which were designed to circumvent the existing usury laws which held all interest to be illegal. You are introduced to the people involved and their philosophies. A sample includes Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Alberti family of merchants, the Medici Banking family, and many popes, scholars, entrepreneurs, business failures, economists and piece work laborers.
The book begins with lengthy introductions to de Roover's work by Goldthwaite and Kirshner. Professor Goldthwaite discusses de Roover's development as a businessman, scholar and writer. He traces the history of his research pointing out the major works.
Kirshner's introductory article concentrates more on de Roover's analyses and attitudes toward the economic teachings and doctrines of the Scholastics, that group of churchmen who articulated so many of the ideas that eventually developed into modern economic theory.
Ten of the eleven articles by de Roover are reprints of selections to fit the theme of the book. The other article, previously unpub-lished, is "Gerard de Malynes as an Economic Writer: From Scholas-ticism to Mercantilism." The dates of publication of the articles range 1941 through 1965. The contents of the book are divided into
