The roots of modern capitalism go back to the Italian banking system of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In the fifteenth century, the Medici Bank succeeded in overshadowing its competitors, the Bardi and the Peruzzi, who were the giants of the fourteenth century, and grew into a vast establishment with branches in most of the large cities of Western Europe. A study of its operations is essential to an understanding of the economic conditions in Europe in the fifteenth century. From a careful study of pertinent documents, including a set of libri segreti (confidential ledgers) discovered in 1950, Professor de Roover has reconstructed the details of the bank’s organization and operating methods; its loan policies, which reflected the Church’s doctrine on usury; its trading and industrial investments; its roles within the Florentine gild system and tax structure; and its activities as financial agent of the Church. He covers every aspect of the bank’s history, from its early years under the management of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici to its collapse with the expulsion of the Medici from Florence. “An invaluable contribution to the economic history of the period....A splendid book.”—Harry A. Miskimin, The American Economic Review “The most important work in English on a medieval or Renaissance bank.”—The Economist “The best book ever written on the medieval banking system.”—John T. Noonan, Jr., Harvard Law Review “The most authoritative treatment of its subject in any language.”—Rondo Cameron, The Accounting Review

The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, 1397-1494

Professor Raymond de Roover received his MBA from Harvard University in June 1938, and it was during that summer that he, together with his wife, Florence Edler, an American scholar studying European economic history, photographed the records that would form the basis for this Medici Bank study. First published in 1948, this publication examines the structural organization and eventual fall of the Medici Bank, the largest and most respected bank in Europe during its prime in the 15th century (1397-1494). The book includes in-depth chapters covering the Florentine banking system; the structure of the Medici firm; the central administration and the branches; the management of the branches; the management of the industrial establishments in Florence; banking and exchange transactions; commercial transactions; the alum cartel; the sources of invested funds; and, finally, the causes of the decline. An important addition to the historical analysis of banking during the formative period of modern institutions.

The Medici Bank

The Medici are famous as the rulers of Florence at the high point of the Renaissance. Their power derived from the family bank, and this book tells the fascinating, frequently bloody story of the family and the dramatic development and collapse of their bank (from Cosimo who took it over in 1419 to his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent who presided over its precipitous decline). The Medici faced two apparently insuperable problems: how did a banker deal with the fact that the Church regarded interest as a sin and had made it illegal? How in a small republic like Florence could he avoid having his wealth taken away by taxation? But the bank became indispensable to the Church. And the family completely subverted Florence's claims to being democratic. They ran the city. Medici Money explores a crucial moment in the passage from the Middle Ages to the Modern world, a moment when our own attitudes to money and morals were being formed. To read this book is to understand how much the Renaissance has to tell us about our own world. Medici Money is one of the launch titles in a new series, Atlas Books, edited by James Atlas. Atlas Books pairs fine writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the world, in a new genre - the business book as literature.

Medici Money

The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank

“If you’re interested in the revolutionary transformation of the meaning and use of money, this is the book to read!”—Charles R. Schwab Cultural anthropologist Jack Weatherford traces our relationship with money, from primitive man’s cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange. The History of Money explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will continue to shape all aspects of our lives—economic, political, and personal. “A fascinating book about the force that makes the world go round—the dollars, pounds, francs, marks, bahts, ringits, kwansas, levs, biplwelles, yuans, quetzales, pa’angas, ngultrums, ouguiyas, and other 200-odd brand names that collectively make up the mysterious thing we call money.”—Los Angeles Times

The History of Money

Starting with Medici and Fugger and ending with Barings and Royal Bank of Scotland under neo-liberal de-regulation, the author gives an account of how a number of banks failed over a 500 year-period. The author offers an explanation of the leading ideas about the world and good society at the time, and summarizes this narrative using Streeck & Schmitter’s three bases for regulation of society: Community (spontaneous solidarity), State (hierarchical control), and Market (dispersed competition). The bank failures are presented in the context of social philosophies of the day (scholasticism, mercantilism, neo-liberalism, and libertarianism), and the changing business practices (Bills of Exchange, rents and financial instruments of various kinds). The dominating explanation of financial crises has been market-related. Here, the author argues that managerial failures are an important contributor. He demonstrates the failure of management to act on early signals such as existential risk, strategic stress syndrome, and lack of proper oversight by top management. The author encourages a return to ethical principles for banks, suggesting that his ethical aspect should be at the core of the credit process of banks in the future. With its interdisciplinary approach, this book will be an important contribution to the discussion surrounding bank failures. It will interest any scholar looking at the origins of financial crises and will be particularly useful for post-graduate students of economic and financial history, banking, finance and accounting.

A Comparative History of Bank Failures

An account of the rise of banking since the Middle Ages and its place in the modern international economy, first published in 1997.

Banking, Trade and Industry

MONEY, BANKING AND CREDIT IN MEDIAEVAL BRUGES Italian Merchant-Bankers Lombards and Money-C hangers A Study in the Origins of Banking by RAYMOND DE ROOVER, Ph. D. Associate Professor of Economics Wells College THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 1948 was dc possible by grants of funds to the from the Carnegie Corporation of New Yor and the Business History Foundation f Inc. COPYRIGHT BY THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA 1948 PRINTED IN U. S. A. A MONSIEUR REMI A. PARMENTIER CONSERVATEUR DES ARCHIVES COMMUNALES DE BRUGES qui, pendant pres de vmgt ans, na cesse dc suwrc ct dencourager cc travail sur Vhistoire de la banque a Bruges Preface THIS book is the outcome of my finding a casual reference to the existence of several account books of mediaeval merchants in the Bruges Municipal Archives. For some time I had been interested in the history of accounting and I had delved in the archives of Antwerp, my native city. Antwerp is rich in business records of the sixteenth and later centuries but I had seen no earlier ac count books. Upon learning of their existence in Bruges I immediately wrote a letter of inquiry to the Curator of the Bruges Archives. The reply was courteous but not encouraging. Yes, there were some mediaeval account books in the Bruges Archives, but the script was nearly illegible and the interpretation of those documents, I was tactfully given to understand, would require the combined talents of a palaeographer, a bookkeeper, and a financier. At that time I knew some bookkeeping and I had worked in a bank, but I could qualify neither as a financier nor as a palaeographer. Nevertheless, undaunted by the difficulties, I made arrangements with theArchivist, Monsieur Remi A. Parmentier, to visit the Bruges Archives and to examine those mysterious and alluring account books. The first visit took place in May 1929. It was followed by many others because Monsieur Parmentier had not exaggerated the difficulties. Several of my short vacations I was then working in a business office were spent bending over the huge ledgers of Collard de Marke and Guillaume Ruyelle in the salle du public, where only the carillon interrupted from time to time the archival silence. As the years passed my acquaintance with Monsieur Parmentier grew into a warm and enduring friendship. Not only did he grant me unusual privileges and facilities for research but he introduced me to Professor Egide Strubbe and thus enabled me to publish the preliminary results of my investigation in the Annales de la Societe dEmulation de Bruges. My last visit to the Bruges Archives was in 1938. By that time I had completed my research and had conceived the general scheme of this book. Its completion was prevented for a long time by other duties and when it was finally completed publication was delayed by the War. During all these years Monsieur Parmentier never lost hope. It is only fitting that this book for which he has waited so long be dedicated to him. Before leaving Bruges, I must also thank Monsieur Albert Schouteet, the Assistant Archivist. He has helped me in many ways by answering repeated queries and by sending me transcripts of various documents. He was also generous enough to communicate to me the text of a hitherto unknown document, which he had discovered, and which established beyond doubt that Guillaume Ruyelle, one of the two money-changers whose accountbooks are preserved in Bruges, VII viii Preface actually failed in 1370. This bit of evidence, which confirmed my suspicions, was particularly welcome to me, and due credit should, therefore, be given to the finder. This work would have been impossible without the financial aid of the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique which enabled me to spend a sum mer in Italy and to photograph a great many mediaeval business papers in the Datini Archives, Prato Tuscany...

Money, Banking and Credit in Mediaeval Bruges - Italian Merchant Bankers, Lombards and Money Changers - A Study in the Origins of Banking

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles

In his application of statistical methods to history, Mr. Molho offers a new approach to the study of Florentine politics. Scholars have long recognized that Florence's deficit-financing of its wars of independence against the Visconti of Milan had far-reaching economic, political, and social effects, but this is the first document-based history to provide concrete support for that general knowledge. Focusing on the governmental and fiscal agencies of Florence as well as a number of memoirs and account hooks written by Florentine citizens, Mr. Molho has gathered and statistically reconstructed much archival material on Florentine taxation, public income, and expenses. He concludes that between 1423 and 1433 Florence underwent a prolonged and vast fiscal crisis that affected both the fiscal structure of the city and its constitutional and institutional framework. His work thus sheds new light on Cosimo de' Medici's rise to power in 1434.

Florentine Public Finances in the Early Renaissance, 1400-1433

Throughout the thirteenth century Western European monarchs were hampered by the failure of their traditional revenues to meet their new expenses. Edward I of England solved the primary problem of acquiring adequate funds with the imposition of a duty on wool and leather and by more frequent direct taxes. But collection was slow and irregular; there still remained the problem of liquidity. To ensure a steady flow of cash to meet his military, administrative, and diplomatic needs Edward developed a special relationship with a company of Italian merchant-bankers, the Societas Riccardorum de Luka. Richard W. Kaeuper analyzes this relationship to provide valuable information on the financial needs of the king's government and its daily routine at a critical stage in its development. Equally interesting is the examination of the operations of the Italian banking houses that were becoming prominent in the economic life of northwestern Europe and were to become famous in the fourteenth century. Originally published in 1973. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Bankers to the Crown

The histories of six generations of the Strozzi, Gondi, Guicciardini, and Capponi families are traced from the fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries by focusing on the family household as defined by the economic bonds reflected in account books. These four families were among the best known of the city's patriciate and were influential in affairs of the city. Their histories serve as case studies in seeking to determine the nature of the patrician family as a specific kind of social institution and to assess its importance in Florentine history. A concluding chapter attempts to relate the changing composition of the family to the general development of Renaissance civilization. Originally published in 1968. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Private Wealth in Renaissance Florence

A clear and readable account of the development of the European economy and its infrastructure from the second century to 1500. Professor Pounds provides a balanced view of the many controversies within the subject, and he has a particular gift for bringing a human dimension to its technicalities. He deals with continental Europe as a whole, including an unusually rich treatment of Eastern Europe. For this welcome new edition -- the first in twenty years -- text and bibliography have been reworked and updated throughout, and the book redesigned and reset.

An Economic History of Medieval Europe

The Letters of Lorenzo De'Medici and of the Medici Bank:problems of Authorship

Money, Banking and Credit in Mediaeval Bruges

The Medici Bank, established by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici in the early 15th century, was one of the most influential and successful financial institutions of the Renaissance period. It was based in Florence but expanded across major European cities, including Rome, Venice, and Geneva, even reaching as far as London. The bank's innovative practices, such as double-entry bookkeeping and the use of holding companies, revolutionized banking and commerce in Europe. It managed the finances of the papacy, facilitated trade across Europe, and funded the endeavors of monarchs and merchants alike. The wealth and influence garnered through the bank enabled the Medici family to rise to prominence, turning them into one of the most powerful dynasties of the time. This influence extended beyond economics into politics and culture, significantly contributing to the patronage of the arts and the development of the Renaissance in Florence. However, by the late 15th century, due to mismanagement, political adversities, and competition from other banking houses, the Medici Bank experienced a decline, ultimately leading to its closure in the early 17th century.

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Medici Bank

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