Portugal and the Medieval Atlantic. Commercial Diplomacy, Merchants, and Trade, 1143-1488.

This thesis is about the commercial relations between Portugal and the medieval Atlantic, roughly from the twelfth century until the end of the fifteenth century, covering the first commercial contacts with England, Zeeland, Flanders, Normandy, and Brittany, the consolidation of overseas commerce in those territories, the effect of the Hundred Years War on commercial exchange, and the changes produced in trade by the overseas expansion. The focus is both on commercial diplomacy and the role of Portuguese merchants in overseas trade, in order to understand when, how and why did traders begin to travel to Euro-Atlantic markets, how commercial statutes, treaties, and warfare stimulated or hindered trade routes, in what way Portugal's socioeconomic and political convulsions affected external commerce, and how significant were these circumstances for the kingdom's urban and economic growth, and institutional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]