Abstract

The image of the merchant in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is one of the less studied objects of Spanish literature, cultural and economic history. The starting point of this contribution is the negative image of the merchant as a ‘deceiver and conman’ in Spain in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. This image changes in the course of the sixteenth century in a positive way due to the economic rise of Spain in the Siglo de Oro. The theologians of the important school of Salamanca ideologically legitimized this change – with great moral scruples. The eighteenth century, with its profound secularization and professionalization of the merchant class, completed the process of its recognition as ‘honorable man and benefactor’ in a modern society.