Merchants and Revolution:Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London's Overseas Traders, 1550-1653

A major reinterpretation of the transformation of English commerce in the century after 1550

Merchants and Revolution examines the activities of London’s merchant community during the early Stuart period. Proposing a new understanding of long-term commercial change, Robert Brenner explains the factors behind the opening of long-distance commerce to the south and east, describing how the great City merchants wielded power to exploit emerging business opportunities, and he profiles the new colonial traders, who became the chief architects of the Commonwealth’s dynamic commercial policy.