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Abstract
Almost 400 years ago, Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantova and Marquis of Monferrato, refused a territorial barter proposed by the King of Spain, who had offered the Isle of Sardinia in exchange for the Marquisate of Monferrato. In 1618, an advisor to the Duke drafted a report to highlight the governmental issues surrounding the island. This Relatione, together with correspondence between the governors and advisors engaged in the prospective transfer, reveals why the Duke rejected the proposal. These sources provide the foundation for a close analysis of the potential effects of the trade on the Duchy's welfare, as well as the problems associated with its government. Using a model based on the Foucauldian governmentality framework, this analysis reveals that denying the barter was the result of rational behavior, driven by territorial governability aims.
Keywords
Accounting practices, duchy, governmentality, kingdom, political rationality, state, territorial barter
Introduction
In the seventeenth century, a territorial exchange nearly occurred in Europe that would have involved the trade of the Isle of Sardinia, a Vice-Kingdom of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea near the western coast of southern Italy, for the Marquisate of Monferrato, a possession of the Duchy of Mantua situated in north-west Italy, in the region today known as Piemonte (Piedmont) (Figures 1 and 2). To analyze that potential barter, this study focuses on the rationality and techniques used to reach the final decision, namely, not to proceed with the agreement.
The location of the Marquisate was strategic for the King of Spain, who wanted it to improve the routes for travel and trade from Genoa to Milan, as well as to increase his domination over northern Italy (Belfanti and Romani, 1987; Fochessati, 1912; Grendler, 2009).1 After the King proposed the barter, the Duke of Mantua charged his advisor, Don Ottavio Gentili, with collecting more information about the proffered Isle of Sardinia. This advisor spent six months on the island, gaining information about its resources and population so that he could offer the Duke a complete understanding of what governing the island would require (Nerli, 1624).2 The summary of the advisor's work appears in a report written in ancient Italian, the Relatione sull'Isola di Sardigna (Report about the Isle of Sardinia), which he concluded on 18 May...