Diamonds are forever. Eros judaico: capital económico e capital social. Reflexões sobre a relação entre empreendimento mercantil e coesão social entre os judeus portugueses de Amesterdão (séculos XVI-XVII)

Abstract

In this article we deal with the relation between economic and social capital in Amsterdam Jewish families of Iberian matrix. The wills from the Amsterdam Portuguese Community allowed us to perceive their strategies of conservation of patrimonies in their consanguine families, as this was crucial to do business. The exploration of these documents lead us to some ideas concerning the mentioned equation, as the importance of kinship, that surpassed the question of identity formally assumed (New-Christians in the Iberian Peninsula, and assumed Jews in Holland); and the fundamental symbology of the precious goods in the patrimonial context of these families that, together with other dimensions of an openly aristocratic life, show the need to establish a social difference as a guarantee of a socio-economical operationally.