The Power and Pains of Polisemy: Maritime Trade, Averages, and Institutional Development in the Low Countries (15th-16th Centuries)

Abstract

This is one of the essential books for researchers and readers interested in maritime insurance, risk management, and commercial regulation in the fteenth- and sixteenth-century Low Countries. To overcome doubts and the“pains of polysemy” surrounding the concept of averages, this work is indispensable. Published as volume 15 of Brill’s Studies in Maritime History– a series devoted to the international and comparative study of maritime history– Gijs Dreijer’s book stems from a doctoral thesis completed within the framework of the AveTransRisk project (ERC 724544), coordinated by Maria Fusaro (University of Exeter). Although the title may initially appear unusual, it is well justi ed given the semantic complexity (“the pains of polysemy”) and the range of uses of the term average during this historical period, which provided distinct advantages to merchants (“the power of polysemy”) in their late medieval and early modern maritime enterprises.