Page 45 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Eonomy and Networks of Rural Elite Families in a Manufacturing Area

But this is not the only sign of the strong relationship between the Magrè
and the families of Schio: when Giacomo Magrè escaped together with his
companions after the shooting, seeking refuge in the San Pietro church, his
father Stefano fetched Tranquillo Toaldo, who went with him to his son
and suggested he move to the more peripheral church of San Francesco.
This event testifies to the friendship between the Magrè and probably the
most important family in Schio in that period. However, among the fami-
lies of the elite of Schio, not just the Toaldo were strongly connected with
the Magrè; indeed, after the shooting Giacomo Magrè was joined in the
San Francesco church by Giovan Battista Moscatello, member of another
relevant family of Schio, who, armed, accompanied him to Vicenza. Then,
the day after, they came back to Schio escorted by 15 henchmen (asvi,
Magrè, b. 4, fasc. 76).
Therefore, it is not a coincidence that after the failure of the company
with Giuseppe Lodi, Giacomo Magrè, on 22 July 1578, established a ‘silk
and doppi trading company’⁷ with a member of the Moscatello family, An-
drea, together with Cristoforo Baratto (the founder of the homonymous
hospital in Schio), and Giorgio Canneto and his brothers, ‘all merchants
in Schio’ (asvi, Notarile, b. 8686, 4 July 1584). The particularity of this
company, that it should last five years, is that the starting capital was al-
most equally divided among the contractors (1,000 ducats each, with the
exception of Andrea Moscatello, who supplied 500 ducats), whether urban
or rural, and that the company was specifically aimed at the trade ‘of silk
and doppi, and nothing else.’ Within the company, Giacomo Magrè was in
charge of ‘the buying and selling of the merchandise, being the most con-
fident and informed about the merchants’ (asvi, Notarile, b. 8686, 4 July
1584). Moreover, Andrea Moscatello was until 1584 also the business part-
ner of Magrè in a contract on the salt tax and in the grain trade, even if at
the end of the cooperation he had to cede to Giacomo Magrè a house and
some landed properties because of the debts he incurred (asvi, Notarile,
b. 8582, 9 July 1584).
This last episode confirms that Giacomo Magrè was involved both in the
silk and in the grain trade, as was his father Stefano before him (Vianello
2004a, 108; 2004b, 194; Demo 2004, 38; Demo 2012, 74), and the same fields
of investments characterized the merchant-entrepreneurs in Schio. Clear-
ly, the fact that the northern part of the province of Vicenza bordered with

⁷The seta di doppi (literally, ‘double silk’) or doppi was a low-quality silk, obtained from co-
coons with two silkworms inside (Demo 2004, 52).

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