Sabbatical Hans Cools: Francesco Feroni (ca. 1618-1693): broker in cereals, art and enslaved people

The biography of Francesco Feroni, a Tuscan migrant in Amsterdam, offers a prism on the broader seventeenth-century history. Feroni was of very humble origin, but in Amsterdam he grew into a prominent merchant. In addition, over time he acted as a diplomatic agent of the Medici family, who ruled in Florence. He also exported
Dutch artworks and scientific instruments to Tuscany, taking advantage of its connections with the Sephardic community, traded in enslaved people and
he used his influence with the Holy Chair to favor the Jesuits at the expense of the Jansenists in the strife that divided the Catholic minority in the Dutch Republic. His 'micro-history' thus provides us with insight into a series of processes that changed the face of Europe and, by extension, the world, over the course of the seventeenth century.