British Catholics’ commercial strategies in times of international warfare (1688–1705)

Abstract

This article investigates the British Catholic merchants' commercial strategies during the Nine Years War (1689)(1690)(1691)(1692)(1693)(1694)(1695)(1696)(1697) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701)(1702)(1703)(1704)(1705)(1706)(1707)(1708)(1709)(1710)(1711)(1712)(1713). By focusing on the tactics deployed by John Aylward and his partners in France and England, I argue that Catholicism fundamentally sustained Aylwards' trade by ensuring access to various markets and safer commercial plans. Catholicism had an economic dimension and Catholics in trade proved non-communal, working with co-religionists, family but also with non-Catholics in order to pursue profits. This paper tells us how Catholicism, despite being a political and social impairment, was the key to success in commerce. It contributes to recent scolarship on religious minorities in trade and on how commerce functioned in the English Channel and in European waters at times of warfare.The early modern commercial world fundamentally transformed European society by introducing a new set of values and norms, that among others, profoundly affected the religious discourse as well;in fact, the commercial age forced religious minorities to adopt a new economic rationale which fostered cross-cultural or inter-faith networks. Long-distance commerce opened communal minorities to cooperation with traders with 'no blood, kinship or ethnic ties', as the difficulty to monitor such vast exchanges and the pursuit of profits 'brought strangers into contact'. 1 This theory exemplifies the strategies of British Catholic merchants involved in Mediterranean and Atlantic trade in the early modern period. They worked with co-religionists as well as Protestants. Decades of co-operation would eventually bring social and political rehabilitation for BritishCatholics at the end of the eighteenth century. This paper builds upon these recent findings and investigates the trading rationale of the British Catholic merchant John Aylward. Although a single case study, the Aylward papers offer a vast amount of information on how religious minorities acted in trade and how the early modern commercial world functioned. Aylward did not act in isolation and his activities suggest that Catholicism had an economic dimension and Catholic merchants fostered global networks of interfaith trade within the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Furthermore, they defy the stereotype of communality as Aylward and his associates tapped into religious and blood relations alongside wider economic connections. 2 In fact, this paper focuses on Aylward's commercial strategies during the turmoil of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. By investigating his activities, the aim is to show how Catholic merchants built inter-imperial networks in order to survive the war by exchanging north-European manufactures for Mediterranean goods. By tapping into networks of Catholics, family and Protestant associates, Aylward created global circuits. Furthermore, during the two decades examined, from France...

Mrs Helena Aylward: A British Catholic mother, spouse and businesswoman in the Commercial Age (1705–1714)

“…Rather, their non-Catholic partners looked to them for their ability to access Catholic markets, particularly those in France and Spain, while England was at war with both countries for over two decades (1688-1714). 4 Their familial and religious ties co-existed alongside wider commercial networks. They worked with anyone deemed trustworthy, in the knowledge that extensive connections were crucial for success in the commercial age.…”