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The results of this call for research papers will be presented at Prato during the 58th Study Week (9–13 May 2027)

deadline for submission of proposals: 1 November 2025

During the long period from the 13th to the 18th century, a crucial role in the economic development of Europe and the Mediterranean area and in their integration into a single trading area was played by a variety of foreign communities operating within urban and mercantile contexts as well as in rural areas. These communities did not necessarily identify themselves as minorities in the ethnic, linguistic or religious sense of the term, but were made up of groups of individuals who, for professional and/or economic reasons, resided permanently in cities or regions other than those of their origin and whose legal status was often ambiguous; they were not citizens, but neither were they mere foreigners just passing through.

The LVIII Study Week focuses on these foreign communities during the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. These communities could be characterized by their high qualifications, in which case, they brought capital, skills and innovation, or they could be composed of unskilled workers, in which case they were filling the gap left by the insufficient supply of local labour. But in both cases, these communities contributed significantly to the creation of a transnational economic culture that anticipated many aspects of modernity. Their mobility and ability to adapt to different socio-economic contexts and their role in the production and circulation of goods and techniques, as well as ideas, make these communities a key element in understanding European interdependence before the industrial era. The history of European capitalism, far from being merely national, had its roots in a complex interplay of mobile populations, sometimes undefined in legal terms, but always economically central. […]

Hanseatic merchants formed foreign communities outside the Baltic Sea area; in the Kontors of Bruges, London, and then Antwerp (13th–16th centuries), they formed distinct groups with their own statutes, internal judges and structures (such as the Oosterlingenhuis, the ‘House of Germans’) and, although they were hosted and integrated into the local economic fabric, their role was crucial in the trade of linen, wheat, spices and salt, even though they had neither citizenship nor full political autonomy. Another example is the Kontor in the Russian city of Novgorod, where a German merchant community operated according to special rules, with its own Oldermann or governor, and in a well-defined urban space. Essential for the trade in salt, furs, wax and honey, this community is an interesting case of a legally autonomous but economically interdependent settlement. Vice versa, there were Russian “churches” (in fact, merchants’ enclaves) in neighbouring Livonian cities.

The papers proposed for Datini Study Week should address one or more of the following topics:

1. Legal Status and Integration of the Foreign Communities

• What legal categories (e.g. Beisasse, Gast, resident foreigner, etc.) regulated the presence and economic activities of non-citizen groups in different regions and cities?
• To what extent were foreign communities integrated into local economic, legal, and social structures?
• How did statutes, privileges, and exemptions shape their status and economic opportunities?
   

2. Professional Communities and Economic Functions

• What roles did foreign bankers, merchants, craftsmen, jurists, and skilled artisans play in the economic life of pre-industrial societies?
• How were professional skills and know-how transferred through these communities across regions?
• To what extent did foreign professional communities contribute to the formation of transregional labour markets?
   

3. Networks and Mobility

• How did family, commercial, or professional networks facilitate mobility and transnational economic integration?
• What were the spatial and institutional configurations of these networks (e.g. fondaci, kontore, nations,etc.)?
• How did these networks adapt to phases of political fragmentation, war, or crisis?

4. Conflict, Competition, and Resilience

• How were foreign communities affected by xenophobia, protectionist policies, or fiscal discriminations?
• What strategies did they adopt to survive or adapt in times of political or economic upheaval?
• How did local populations and institutions perceive and respond to the presence of “useful foreigners”?

5. Cultural and Technical Transfers

• How did foreign groups contribute to the diffusion of commercial techniques, legal knowledge, artistic skills, or technological innovations?
• What was the role of multilingualism and intercultural competencies within these communities?
• Can the influence of foreign communities be traced in urban development, trade practices, or institutional change?

6. Comparative and Transregional Approaches

• How did the presence and role of foreign communities differ between the Hanseatic area and the Mediterranean?
• What regional patterns can be identified in the recruitment, regulation, or integration of foreign groups?
• What are there the most significant phases of change in the status or functions of these communities between the 13th and 18th centuries?

7. Institutional Mediation and Governance

• What role did consulates, tribunals, or local authorities play in regulating foreign communities?
• How did foreign communities organize themselves internally by mean of guilds, consuls, statutes, etc.?
• In what ways did institutions mediate tensions between foreign groups and local populations?

Expected results
The selected papers will be presented and discussed at Prato in the course of the 2027 Study Week. After the discussion at the Settimana sessions, scholars should complete and revise their texts by 30 June 2027. All contributions received by the Institute will be subject to anonymous adjudication before publication.

Call for papers
Scholars are invited to send their proposal by compiling an abstract that will be reviewed by the Executive Committee.

The paper should represent an original contribution and be either generally comparative or a specific case-study that speaks to the larger questions set out here. Participants who are pursuing a PhD should have completed it before the start of the conference.

Papers proposed by projects or collaborative groups that link scholars from different countries and institutions will be assessed with particular interest if they offer a comparative analysis in geographical or diachronic terms across two or more related research themes. We will also consider innovative session formats for these type of proposals.

The completed form must be received at the following address by 1 November2025:

Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini”
Via Ser Lapo Mazzei 37, I 59100 Prato, ITALY
e-mail: datiniistitutodatiniit

The Executive Committee will only take fully completed forms into consideration and will decide whether they have been accepted at the beginning of 2026, when authors of the selected proposals will be notified. Depending on the Institute’s financial resources, at least 25 scholars will be provided with hospitality (accommodation and 10 euro meal tickets) at Prato for the Study Week. The Council may also invite up to 20 additional scholars to participate in the project without any right to hospitality or reimbursement.

The Fondazione Datini will award for the Prato conference up to 10 Travel Bursaries to cover travel costs for the conference to the maximum of 250 euros per grant for postdoctoral scholars who do not hold a full-time academic position. Applicants must send the travel bursaries form to the Fondazione Datini with their paper by 10 April 2027. The grant will be paid during the conference on the presentation of travel receipts.

All submitted contributions must be original and not previously published or translated from previous publications.

The provisional texts of the selected contributions or at least a detailed synthesis must reach the Fondazione Datini (Datini Foundation) by 10 April 2027. They will be put online (with protected access reserved for the participants of the project and members of the Scientific Committee) on the Institute’s web pages before the Study Week in order to allow a deeper discussion of their contents.
Authors who fail to send their provisional texts to the Fondazione that day, can not be included in the final programme. In absence of the author the synthesis will be read during the conference.

At the Settimana participants will offer a summary presentation of their contribution lasting 20 minutes.

The definitive texts of the paper, revised by the authors following the discussion (maximum 60,000 characters) must be sent to the Institute by 30 June 2027. They will be subject to anonymous adjudication. Texts that pass the assessment stage will be published in a special volume within a year (together with two abstracts, one in the language of the essay and the other in one of the official languages of the Institute: Italian, English, French, Spanish and German). Simultaneous translation from and to Italian, English and French will be available during the Study Week.

For the purpose of publication, texts will be accepted in Italian, French, English, Spanish and German.

Authors who are not writing in their native language are advised to have the language of their text vetted and corrected before submitting their paper for the assessment stage since one of the requirements for publication is that the grammar and writing style meet high academic standards.

Complete CfP [PDF]

Das Team des Interdisziplinären Forschungszentrums Ostseeraum (IFZO) sucht zum 1. Oktober 2025 eine studentische oder wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft (Bachelor/Master) im Umfang von 20 h/Monat für die administrative Unterstützung der Geschäftsführung beim Aufbau des Zentrums und der Umsetzung der Forschungsaktivitäten, vor allem durch die Pflege und Gestaltung der Webseite.

Das IFZO bietet eine eigenverantwortliche Tätigkeit mit Bezug zum eigenen Studium durch ein interdisziplinäres und internationales Team, das in zukunftsweisenden Forschungsfeldern der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften forscht. 

Zu den Aufgaben gehören:

• Gestaltung von verschiedenen Inhalten der Zentrumswebseite,
• Aktualisierung des webseiteninternen Veranstaltungskalenders und Nachrichtenservices,
• Pflege und Aktualisierung der Zentrumsunterseiten,
• kreative Unterstützung des Medienteams,
• Unterstützung des Geschäftsstellenteams bei der Vorbereitung und Durchführung von Veranstaltungen.

Folgende Einstellungsvoraussetzungen sollten Sie mitbringen:

• Bereitschaft zur gewissenhaften, zuverlässigen und selbständigen Arbeit,
• Kenntnisse in TYPO3 bzw. die Bereitschaft, sich umfassend in das Webseitenprogramm TYPO3 einzuarbeiten,
• sehr gute Word- und Excelkenntnisse bzw. vergleichbar,
• sehr gute Deutsch- und Englischkenntnisse,
• Kommunikations- und Teamfähigkeit.
   

Arbeitszeiten können flexibel vereinbart werden.
 

Die Stelle ist derzeit an eine Projektförderung bis zum 31. Mai 2026 gebunden. Individuelle Laufzeiten entsprechend der Studienplanung werden im Vorfeld vereinbart. Bitte senden Sie Ihre Bewerbung bestehend aus Motivationsschreiben und kurzem Lebenslauf bis zum 20. September 2025 in einer pdf-Datei per E-Mail an ifzouni-greifswaldde. Bewerbungsgespräche finden voraussichtlich in der Zeit vom 25.-29. September 2025 per Videokonferenz statt. Informationen zu Profil und Aufgaben des IFZO finden Sie unter https://ifzo.uni-greifswald.de/.
 

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Ausschreibung als PDF