Page 76 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 76
plex Gateways
Proli banking house (Michielsen 1935, 273–307).6 Botta Adorno contacted
her with the request that she suggest to him a man suitable for the posi-
tion of director of the grand company to be established (Michielsen 1936,
6; Houtman-De Smedt 1983, 71). She responded several days later, pro-
posing her son and Urbano Arnoldt, an experienced merchant and trust-
ed man who had already been working for the Proli house for more than
two decades.
Urbano Arnoldt (Southern Austria, circa 1700 – Rijeka 1775) was suit-
ed for business in Vienna and the Littoral because he was a native of the
Northern Adriatic or Southern Austrian regions (Houtman-De Smedt
1983, 71–6). At first, he worked for Venetian and Viennese trading hous-
es, and in 1729 he boarded the ship Cheval Marin and sailed from Cadiz to
India as supercargo on behalf of the Austrian financier Adam Prunner
(Michielsen 1936, 6–7). According to other information, he was supercar-
go in 1728 and supervised the cargo that he loaded in Trieste for Bengal,
for the Company in Ostend, returning in 1730. Arnoldt then worked in
Antwerp, and, after the abolition of the Company in Ostend, became the
accountant of the Proli house. He also ran his own business and from
1741 to 1745, he was involved in the tea trade carried out by the Swedish
East India Company from Gothenburg, which imported tea from China
and Bengal.7 Arnoldt’s stake in many large companies is testament to his
skill: along with shares in the Rijeka Trading Company and the Company
in Gothenburg, he also owned shares in the Company in Havana, the
Company in Bayonne in France, and the San Fernando Company in
Seville, as well as some Italian securities (DARI, AD, 1775). He and the
young Charles Proli (Antwerp 1723 – Brussels 1786) travelled to Vienna
on 10 September 1749 to discuss deals in the Court Chamber with Count
Chotek. After Vienna, they went to Trieste and then to Rijeka, to see for
themselves the working conditions for the future company and the bene-
6 Aldegonde was from an Antwerp family of intellectuals and merchants. Her grand-
father studied at the University in Leuven and was a city doctor in Antwerp. After
Pietro’s death, she took over control of her husband’s business and showed her spe-
cial business and banking abilities.
7 Upon the invitation of the Austrian authorities in Brussels to be involved in the
founding of a new company, Arnoldt, at first (by a letter dated 24 August 1749) re-
plied that he was prevented due to work with diamonds! In the end he nevertheless
accepted the offer. The governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Charles of Lorraine,
described him in a letter to the Empress dated 10 September 1749 as a respected
man who spoke many languages.
76
Proli banking house (Michielsen 1935, 273–307).6 Botta Adorno contacted
her with the request that she suggest to him a man suitable for the posi-
tion of director of the grand company to be established (Michielsen 1936,
6; Houtman-De Smedt 1983, 71). She responded several days later, pro-
posing her son and Urbano Arnoldt, an experienced merchant and trust-
ed man who had already been working for the Proli house for more than
two decades.
Urbano Arnoldt (Southern Austria, circa 1700 – Rijeka 1775) was suit-
ed for business in Vienna and the Littoral because he was a native of the
Northern Adriatic or Southern Austrian regions (Houtman-De Smedt
1983, 71–6). At first, he worked for Venetian and Viennese trading hous-
es, and in 1729 he boarded the ship Cheval Marin and sailed from Cadiz to
India as supercargo on behalf of the Austrian financier Adam Prunner
(Michielsen 1936, 6–7). According to other information, he was supercar-
go in 1728 and supervised the cargo that he loaded in Trieste for Bengal,
for the Company in Ostend, returning in 1730. Arnoldt then worked in
Antwerp, and, after the abolition of the Company in Ostend, became the
accountant of the Proli house. He also ran his own business and from
1741 to 1745, he was involved in the tea trade carried out by the Swedish
East India Company from Gothenburg, which imported tea from China
and Bengal.7 Arnoldt’s stake in many large companies is testament to his
skill: along with shares in the Rijeka Trading Company and the Company
in Gothenburg, he also owned shares in the Company in Havana, the
Company in Bayonne in France, and the San Fernando Company in
Seville, as well as some Italian securities (DARI, AD, 1775). He and the
young Charles Proli (Antwerp 1723 – Brussels 1786) travelled to Vienna
on 10 September 1749 to discuss deals in the Court Chamber with Count
Chotek. After Vienna, they went to Trieste and then to Rijeka, to see for
themselves the working conditions for the future company and the bene-
6 Aldegonde was from an Antwerp family of intellectuals and merchants. Her grand-
father studied at the University in Leuven and was a city doctor in Antwerp. After
Pietro’s death, she took over control of her husband’s business and showed her spe-
cial business and banking abilities.
7 Upon the invitation of the Austrian authorities in Brussels to be involved in the
founding of a new company, Arnoldt, at first (by a letter dated 24 August 1749) re-
plied that he was prevented due to work with diamonds! In the end he nevertheless
accepted the offer. The governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Charles of Lorraine,
described him in a letter to the Empress dated 10 September 1749 as a respected
man who spoke many languages.
76
