Summary Erasmus Schetz, Gaspar Ducci, and Gilbert van Schoonbeke. Contemporaries made it indisputably clear that these three moneymakers were exceptional, from different perspectives and for different reasons, but all commentators implicitly or explicitly referred to their unique economic achievements, and they were right to do so. The exceptional careers of the three protagonists shed light on the potential of the most dynamic economic centre of Europe - and the world - during early globalization. Precisely because their economic initiatives were far more ambitious than what other businessmen in Antwerp could or would consider or achieve, their careers are ideal vantage points for observing and analysing 'capital at work'. They also provide an opportunity to examine how commercial capitalism changed and/or was transformed, and in what measure the three protagonists extended the frontiers of capitalism. TABLE OF CONTENTS Part 1 Erasmus Schetz, ca. 1480-1550 1.1 How to Trade with Portugal 1.2 The Calamine Monopoly and Brass Production 1.3 Pepper and Sugar 1.4 Diversification and Focus 1.5 Finance as Investment and Speculation 1.6 Wealth and Prestige Part 2 Gaspar Ducci, 1495-1577 2.1 Creative Banking 2.2 New Commercial Taxes and War-Time Monopolies 2.3 The Alum Monopoly 2.4 Networks and Financial Deals 2.5 'Among Such Wolves' 2.6 The Fall Part 3 Gilbert van Schoonbeke, 1519-1556 3.1 How to Dominate the Real Estate Market 3.2 Creating a Port and a New District 3.3 Monopolizing the Greatest Public Works 3.4 The Beer Production Monopoly 3.5 An Anti-Monopoly Revolt 3.6 Supplying the Army