The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-04-09
THE Sun, SUNDAY, APRIL 8. lsys.


how to spin gold fof themselves instead Of
procuring 10 ready spun from Cyprus or
Cologne. they soon produced silver and gold
brocades Of nnsufpassable beauty.
~.
The art OF banking. including n system OF
drafts and chccks. iourishcd In Floronce from
the beginning OF the thirteenth century. The
Florsntine merchants had counting houses
and agents or correspondents everywhere.
C~onsoauently. when a merchant OF Antwerp
or Bruges wished to send money to Italy or
the East, he would seek a Florentine colleague.
who had come to Flanders to buy undyed
cloth. and mako him the channel OF COM
municntion between himself and creditors
dwelling at Naples or Siena or Novgorod or
Constnntinople. The reverse operation would
20 on In Florence. where n trader DESTROYS OF
Transmitting q hundred forms to London had
but to visit q workshop belonging to either Of
the two wool guilds. whore ho would find
some one to carry out his wishes by the
simple expedieht OF writing to q corre-
spondent In Lombard street. In point OF
fact, scarcely any transaction practised
In connection with modern banking was I'M
known to the Fiorentine money changers.
When. for instance. the republic wanted I,
loan It addressed Itself to the bankers. Just as
we do now. The public debt thus formed gave
rise to the Institution known as the Monte
Commune. OF which tho coupons were neeo-
tiated in precisely the same way as now. I'm
der the colonnades Of the Mercato Nuovo.
where visitors to Florence now 60 to buy their
flowers. the merchants OF the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries speculated In the rise and
fall Of rentes.
Before recalling some noteworthy TRANSACT
tions OF tho Florcntine bankers We should
point out that the author Of this book accepts
the calculations OF Sismondi. that the small
gold form Of Florence was worth q little less
than nine dollars during the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries. This estimate OF value
enables us to appreciate tho following facts:
In the year 1850 the Ssllmboni lent Siena
22.00O forms. and failed In consequence some
years later. In 1877 one OF the Albertis OF
Florence died worth three hundred thousand
forms got BY whilo the celebrated
loans made by Bardi and Poruzzi to Edward
III. Of England. and which eventually reduced
them to bankruptcy. amounted to one million
five hundred thousand forins. The English
Kings borrowed largely Of Florentine bankers.
and Confines asserts that Edward ". owed his
throne to the help they gave him. Gradually
Florence ousted Siena from its position as
chief banker Of tho Holy See. The impor-
lance OF the financial connection between the
Papal Court and the republic OF Florence Is in
truth tho key to Florentine history-the I'M
avowed explanation OF the fidelity OF the
Florentine Government to the Guelph cause.
To be the bankers Of the Papal wealth. esti-
mated ut the death Of John XXII. at twenty
four million forms in gold. was O superla-
tive temptation: and when tho Papal Court
removed to Avignon and back again to
Rome. the great displacement OF capital which
onsued. and the enormous remittances that
had to be made. offered opportunities for profit
OF which the Florentines made the most
In point OF fact. the guild Of money changers
were Of ancient origin in Florence. The off,
GERS OF the guild aud the Exchange Of the
period were. as We have said. under the colon
nades Of tho New Market. In 1888 these
counting houses numbered about eighty. and
every year tho Mint OF Florence coined from
three hundred aud fifty to four hundred thou
sand forms. In 1922 the circulating medium
required for the business OF tho city was col
oulated at two millions Of forms. Operations
were much assisted by the good quality OF the
Florentine coinage. The first gold form was
issued In 1852. and 1t never altered. in value.
whereas the silver Ira did continually. Floren-
tine traders are reputed to have ranked high
for integrity and punctuality. but tho town
had an evil reputation for usury. Legal
interest was Axed at from ton to twenty
per cent. but these profits were insult
cient to attract money lenders. who by
various devices often managed to send lawful
interest up to forty per cent. 1t was to tho
practice OF usury. to which tho Christian Flor
entines were quito as much addicted as tho
Jews. that the institution known as the Monte di
Pieta. or Government pawnbroker's shop. owed
Its origin. In the beginning everything was
managed froe OF charge in these institutions.
and the sums REQUIRED were advanced without
It was soon found. however. TINT the
OF a bettor era for tho needy was a
tn formalities to be observed ut
the Monte. the delay in obtaining the money.
the necessity Of proving the lawful posses-
sion Of the deposited object. and the obliga-
ton imposed on every applicant in giving his
drove patrician and plebeian alike hack
into the Offices OF the discreet Hebrew. whose
credit grew eventually to such proportions
that n later Tuscan proverb ran. Better beat
the Grand Duke than n Jew."