Abstract

By taking into analysis a wide range of scholastic texts, this essay aims at filling a gap in our understanding of how risk was perceived and theorized in pre-modern Europe. Scholarly investigations have so far underlined how intellectuals, while discussing about marine insurance, were able to explore the economic dimensions of risk, including its measurability and profitability. However, we know very little about what they thought about alternatives to insurance and, by focusing on General Average, this study intends to overcome this shortcoming. An extensive survey of scholastic writings from the 13th to the 18th century, shows that theologians had difficulty at considering General Average as worthy of in-depth discussion. Only at the end of the 16th century scholasticism acknowledges the principles currently used in legal literature, without this prompting anything comparable to the discussions on insurance or gambling. Nonetheless, these sources reveal alternative ways to describe sea risks, where the emphasis is not on calculus or profit but on shared responsibility, collective action, and ex-post mitigation.