Hi,
It is just out of sheer interest but I always find myself wondering how much clout and influence does merchants throughout different times cope with their rulers? Take, for example, a medieval kingdom (say Dark Ages) or a Greece city-state. Could the king or the government just march in and seize a merchant’s goods? Was there ever a time when merchants literally bring an anarchic government which relies on military strength and “mandate of heaven” to their knees?