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From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS
XX. EUROPEAN CITIES DURING THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
» Contents of this Chapter
Page 18
THE JEWS AS MONEY LENDERS
The business of money lending, denied to Christians, fell into the hands of the Jews. In nearly all European countries popular prejudice forbade the Jews to engage in agriculture, while the guild regulations barred them from industry. They turned to trade and finance for a livelihood and became the chief capitalists of medieval times. But the law gave the Jews no protection, and kings and nobles constantly extorted large sums from them. The persecutions of the Jews date from the era of the crusades, when it was as easy to excite fanatical hatred against them as against the Moslems. Edward I drove the Jews from England and Ferdinand and Isabella expelled them from Spain. They are still excluded from the Spanish peninsula, and in Russia and Austria they are not granted all the privileges which Christians enjoy.
ITALIAN BANKING
The Jews were least persecuted in the commercial cities of northern Italy. Florence, Genoa, and Venice in the thirteenth century were the money centers of Europe. The banking companies in these cities received deposits and then loaned the money to foreign governments and great nobles. It was the Florentine bankers, for instance, who provided the English king, Edward III, with the funds to carry on his wars against France. The Italian banking houses had branches in the principal cities of Europe. [19] It became possible, therefore, to introduce the use of bills of exchange as a means of balancing debts between countries, without the necessity of sending the actual money. This system of international credit was doubly important at a time when so many risks attended the transportation of the precious metals. Another Florentine invention was bookkeeping by double-entry. [20]
[19] Lombard Street in London, the financial center of England, received its name from the Italian bankers who established themselves in this part of the city.
[20] Among the Italian words having to do with commerce and banking which have come into general use are conto, disconto, risico, netto, deposito, folio, and bilanza.
THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents
url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp
Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy
