Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

MONIKA POETTINGER
The results of the information gathered on Messers Enrico
Mylius and Ettore Steinhausser are favourable in every way
and confirm their own declarations regarding their situation
and their long residence in this capital. The first is principal of,
and the second has an interest in, a merchant house that, for
the nature of its affairs, the loyalty of its conduct, and the
remarkable amount of funds it disposes over, has acquired a
place amongst the most important of this exchange. Mr Mylius
is married with children, and is one of the substitute judges of
commerce in the Court of Appeal. He owns a beautiful building
in Contrada de Clerici and a large property connected to a
country estate in Sesto of Monza. 73
Heinrich Mylius was not the only one to assess the potential of
Lombardy’s trade successfully. The Napoleonic years and the entrepreneurial
opportunities they generated lured another scion of an
important banking family from Frankfurt, Ludwig von Seufferheld.
While his brother Marquard continued the family business in Frank -
furt, Ludwig founded his own firm, Luigi Seufferheld e Com pagni,
in Milan in 1810. Like Enrico Mylius e Compagni, Seuffer held’s firm
was set up as a merchant house dedicated to banking and the silk
trade. Luigi Seufferheld e Compagni profited from the export of silk,
but also acted as a venture capitalist, financing local limited partnerships
making first attempts at silk processing. Heinrich Mylius, too,
had integrated the silk trade with the production of silk thread, but
instead of a limited partnership he had preferred to buy his own silk
throwing mill in 1813 on the border with Piedmont. Thus equipped,
both German entrepreneurs could profit from the gains of half a century
of the increasing value of silk, silk production, and silk exports
(see Table 9.4). For international merchant houses, the Continental
System proved to be a challenge that they profitably mastered, more
an opportunity for gain than the cause of losses. The only preconditions
for success were flexibility in social structures and adaptability
in investments and strategies. Successful networks were consequently
able to expand their territorial influence and diversify their economic
interests.
The impact of the Continental System on production facilities was
73 ASM, fondo Albinaggio, parte moderna, busta 65, ad nomen (my trans.).
274