Abstract

The subject of this study is the guarantee composition, which was a separate aspect of business relations of the foreigners, members of the Moscow guild merchant society in the mid-18th - mid-19th centuries. Guarantors were some of the local merchants, guaranteeing economic solvency (including timely annual payment of interest on capital), as well as the absence of “fines and suspicions” regarding those entering the merchant guild. This problem is being considered for the first time in the national historiography. The author introduces into scholarly discourse an entire complex of archival materials, which consists of the cases of entering the Moscow merchant status by persons of foreign ethnic origin. This study is based on the analysis of ca. 800 petitions and reports on ranking among the Moscow merchants. The objective of the study is to identify the prevailing trends in relations on the basis of nationality between the persons of foreign ethnic origin who had been classified as merchants, and this could be revealed in the choice of the guarantor either among their ethno-religious community or among local merchants of “Great Russian” origin. These trends are considered separately for each national group, represented in the Moscow merchant society, and compared with each other. For example, the French, Armenian-Gregorian and Muslim (Tatars, Bukharians and Persians) communities had very high percentage of guarantees, involving their compatriots, while Germans and Greeks demonstrated a weaker tendency in this regard. Accordingly, the latter’ preference for choosing guarantors from the local merchants was more noticeable than among the former. The study of guarantees revealed that merchants of Italian, Swiss, British, and Gypsy origin had compatriot ties. On the basis of these data, the author analyzes business relationship between different national and confessional groups represented in the Moscow merchant society. This relationship was often explained by the fact that they traded the homogeneous goods. The author also suggests a four-group typology of guarantee composition according to national characteristics.