¹ The origin of the Medici coat of arms is as obscure as that of the Medici family. Roundels are a common charge, not only in Italian but also in French and English heraldry. According to one theory, the armorial bearings of the Medici are canting arms or armes parlantes, and the torteaux or red balls supposedly represent pills, because media in Italian means “physicians.” The historian G. F. Young regards this whole story as a fable.—The Medici, chap, iii, n. 2. He is probably right. A more plausible explanation is that the Medici adopted the roundels because they were the symbol of the banker's trade and of the guild to which they belonged. The coat of arms of the Florentine money-changers' guild, Arte del Cambio, was a red shield sown with bezants or gold roundels. The Medici used red roundels instead of gold ones. The pawnbrokers eventually adopted the gold roundels or balls as the sign of their trade, since those symbols were associated in the public mind with money lending and credit.

² I owe this information to my wife Florence Edler de Roover, who is writing a biography, “Francesco di Giuliano de' Medici (1450–1528), Business Man of Florence.” Her book is based upon the Selfridge Collection of Medici MSS, on deposit in Baker Library, Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

³ The structure of the Florentine banking system will be more fully described by Usher, A. P. when he publishes the second volume of his Early History of Deposit Banking in Mediterranean Europe. The first volume appeared as Vol. LXXV of the Harvard Economic Studies (Cambridge, 1943). Mr. Usher is in possession of much material on the Florentine banks. Scholars await with interest the results of his researchGoogle Scholar.

⁴ Cambi, Giovanni, Istorie, III, in Delizie degli eruditi toscani (Florence, 1786), XXII, 100, 176.Google Scholar

⁵ As was done by the Venetian banks during the war against the Turks.— Lane, Frederic C., “Venetian Bankers, 1496–1533; a Study in the Early Stages of Deposit Banking,” The Journal of Political Economy, XLV (1937), 205Google Scholar.

⁶ , Cambi, Istorie, III, 299.Google Scholar

⁷ “E chambiano e fanno merchantia per tutti i luoghi del mondo, là ove chorrono e chambi e danaro.”— Pagnini, Giovanni Francesco, Delia decima e di varie altre gravezze imposte dal Comune di Firenze, deUa moneta e delta mercatura dei Fiorentini fino at secolo XVI (Lisbon-Lucca, 1766), II, 275 fGoogle Scholar.

⁸ Grunzweig, Armand, Correspondence de la filiale de Bruges des Medici, Part I (Brussels, 1931) PP 129, I3I This is henceforth cited with abbreviated title and page reference only, as Part II has not yet appeared.Google Scholar

⁹ The theory of Sorsa, Saverio La, L'Organizzazione dei cambiatori fiorentini (Ceri, 1904), p. 15, that the merchant bankers were not members of the Arte del Cambio, but only of the Calimala and wool guilds is untrue. Averardo de' Medici was a consul of the Arte del Cambio in 1419. Cosimo de1 Medici is listed as a member in 1423.Google ScholarCf. Sieveking, Heinrich, Die Handlungsbücher der Medici (Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, No. CLI, Vienna, 1905), pp. 4 fGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰ Sieveking, Heinrich, Aus Genueser Rechnungs- und Steuerbüchern (Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, No. CLXII, Vienna, 1909), pp. 96 f.Google Scholar; Ceccherelli, Alberto, I Libri di fnercatura della Banca Medici e pap-plicazione della partita doppia a Firenze nel secolo decimo quarto (Florence, 1913), p. 43Google Scholar.

¹¹ Gutkind, Curt S., Cosimo de' Medici, Pater Patriae, 1380–1464 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1938), p. 192, says erroneously that Edoardo Bueri, brother of Gherardo, was a partner in a Flemish banking house called “de Wale.” Wale in the Low German of the Middle Ages was simply a designation applied to any person of Latin, French, or Italian origin. “Eduardus de Boeris de Wale” means “Edward Bueri, the Italian.”Google Scholar

¹² I Libri di commercio dei Peruzzi, ed. Sapori, Armando (Milan, 1934), pp. 304, 378, and passim.Google ScholarCf. Sapori, Armando, “II personate delle compagnie mercantili del medio evo.” Archivio storico italiano, Series 7, XXXII (1939), 121–51Google Scholar; idem, “Storia interna della compagnia mercantile dei Peruzzi,” reprinted from Archivio slorico italiano, Series 7, XXII (1934), 13, n. 3.

¹³ Davidsohn, Robert, Forschungen zur Geschichte von Florenz, III (Berlin, 1901), 96, No.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Sapori, Armando, La Crist delle compagnie mercantili dei Bardi e dei Peruzzi (Florence, 1926), p. 249.Google Scholar

¹⁵ For more details, see , Sapori, “Storia interna,” pp. 20–23Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Mario Chiaudano, “I Rothschild del Duecento; la Gran Tavola di Orlando Bonsignori,” reprinted from Bullettino Senese di storia patria, New Series, VI (1935),

¹⁷ Bauer, Clement, Unternehmung und Unternehmungsjormen im Spätmittelalter und in der beginnenden Neuzeit (Jena, 1936), p. 143.Google Scholar

¹⁸ A clause to this effect is inserted both in the partnership agreement of July 25, 1455, relating to the Bruges branch and in that of May 31, 1446, relating to the London branch.— , Grunzweig, Correspondence, pp. 54, 60Google Scholar; Einstein, Lewis, The Italian Renaissance in England; Studies (New York: Columbia University Press, 1902), p. 243Google Scholar.

¹⁹ , Grunzweig, Correspondance, pp. xxxv ff.Google Scholar

²⁰ Damiano Ruffini v. Tommaso Portinari, , Bruges, 06 30, 1455,Google ScholarSeveren, Louis Gilliodts-van, Cartulaire de I'Estaple, II (Bruges, 1905), 36 f., No. 958Google Scholar.

²¹ , Sieveking, Handlungsbüther der Medici, p. 9Google Scholar; cf. idem, Aus Genueser Rechnungs- Steverbiichern, p. 101.

²² , Gutkind. Cosimo, p. 172. This book on Cosimo contains a few pointed remarks, but it must be used with great caution because of many misstatements of fact and errors in interpretation.Google Scholar

²³ Grunzweig, Armand, “La Correspondance de la filiale brugeoise des Medici,” Revue beige de philologie e.t d'histoire, VI (1927), 725–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁴ Cosimo de' Medici died on August 1,1464. Portinari became junior partner and governor of the Bruges bank when the partnership agreement was renewed on August 6, 1465.— , Grunzweig, Correspondance, p. xviiGoogle Scholar.

²⁵ For more details, see Roover, Florence Edler de, “Francesco Sassetti and the Downfall of the Medici Banking House,” Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, XVII (1943), 65–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁶ That these were Sassetti's responsibilities is brought out by the letters and the reports of the Bruges branch to the main office in Florence.— , Grunzweig, Correspondance, pp. 101, 119,123Google Scholar. Cf. Warburg, A., “Francesco Sassettis letztwillige Verfügung,” Gesammelte Schrijten, I (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1932), 130Google Scholar.

²⁷ Warburg, A., “Flandrische Kunst und florentinische Friihrenaissance,” Gesammelte Schrijten, I, 375, gives an excellent example of Sassetti's partiality.Google Scholar

²⁸ , Sieveking, Handlungsbiicher der Medici, pp. 48–53.Google Scholar

²⁹ His last descendants were two brothers. One went to the East Indies in order to retrieve the family fortune. He succeeded in accumulating considerable wealth but died in 1588 of tropical disease. The other sought escape from poverty in writing the history of his family and stressing its antiquity, nobility, and past wealth. It is to him that we owe the story of Francesco Sassetti's rise and fall.— , Warburg, “Francesco Sassettis letztwillige Verfiigung,” Gesammelte Schriften, I,129Google Scholar.

³⁰ Roscoe, William, The Life of Lorenzo de' Medici (9th ed.; London, 1847), Appendix x, p. 425Google Scholar

³¹ , Sieveking, Handlungsbiicher der Medici, pp. 22 f.Google Scholar

³² This statement is based on the fact that Benci was a partner of the Medici company in London.—, Einstein, Italian Renaissance, p. 242. Former branch managers usually were retained as partners; for example, Angelo Tani, who had been the branch manager in Bruges from 1455 to 1465, still had a share in the capital of this branch when it was liquidated in 1481.–Google Scholar, Grunzweig, Corresfondance, p. xxxivGoogle Scholar.

³³ He was about twelve years old when he came to Bruges in 1437 as a giovane or office boy. At that time the Bruges branch was managed by his cousin Bernardo Portinari, a son of Giovanni Portinari, who was in charge of the Medici branch in Venice from 1418 to 1430 or thereabouts.—, Grunzweig, Correspondance, p. xiii. The Portinaris were descended from a brother of the Beatrice made famous by Dante in his Divine ComedyGoogle Scholar.

³⁴ Portinari to Cosimo de' Medici, March 28, 1464, and May 14, 1464.—, Grunzweig, Correspondance, pp. no, 130Google Scholar.

³⁵ The Italian text of this partnership agreement was published with a summary in French by , Grunzweig (Correspondance, pp. 53–63) and republished without any summary by Gut-Uind (Cosimo, pp. 308–12)Google Scholar.

³⁶ The phrase “licit and honorable exchange transactions” obviously refers to exchange transactions which were permissible according to the church.

³⁷ The fairs of Antwerp and Bergen-op-Zoom grew steadily in importance during the fifteenth century. These fairs were regularly attended by the manager of the Medici branch in Bruges or by members of his staff.—, Grunzweig, Correspondence, pp. 135 f. Bergen-op-Zoom, not to be confused with Bergen in Norway or Bergen (Flemish for Mons) in Hainaut, is a Dutch town on the Scheldt estuary some twenty miles north of Antwerp. I wonder where Gutkind found support for the statement (Cosimo, p. 191) that the Medici had a branch or permanent establishment in Antwerp. I have found nothing concerning the existence of an Antwerp branchGoogle Scholar.

³⁸ For example, the balance as of March 24,1464, was sent from Bruges to Florence on May 14,1464.—, Grunzweig, Correspondance, pp. 129,130 fGoogle Scholar.

³⁹ Lane, Frederic C., Venetian Ships and Shipbuilders of the Renaissance (Baltimore: Hie Johns Hopkins Press, 1934), p. 26.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ The real estate in Bruges apparently belonged privately to the senior partners and the partnership paid rent for the use of this property. In 1466, Portinari bought a palatial mansion in Bruges, the Hotel Bladelin, for Piero de' Medici.—, Grunzweig, Correspondance, p. xxvGoogle Scholar. The building was large enough to accommodate the offices of the Bruges branch, the manager and his family, and probably the members of the staff. The partnership paid a rental of £30 groat a year. Not more than £20 groat a year were to be spent on upkeep and improvements —, Sieveking, Handlungsbiicher der Medici, p. 52Google Scholar.

⁴¹ The records of the municipal court in Bruges refer frequently to Angelo Tani and his successor Tommaso Portinari as plaintiffs or defendants in suits of law. Loya is not an Italian word, but was commonly used in Italian records to designate the municipal court of Bruges, which was called in French la lot de Bruges and in Flemish de wet van Brugge.

⁴² , Einstein, Italian Renaissance, pp. 242–45.Google Scholar

⁴³ Bigwood, Georges, Le Régime juridique el économique du commerce de l'argent dans la Belgique du moyen âge (Mémoires in-8 de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, Series 2, No. XIV, Brussels, 1922), vol. I, 663. Bigwood states that the debt amounted to £57,000 Artois, at 40 groats to a pound, which is equivalent to £ 9,500 groat, at 240 groats to a pound.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ , Sieveking, Handlungsbucher der Medici, pp. 50, 52.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ The liquidation of the loans dragged on until 1500, when a crown jewel, the fleur-de-lis of Burgundy, held in pledge by Portinari, was finally released. The toll of Gravelines near Calais assigned to Portinari in 1478 was still in his control in 1495.—, Bigwood, Régime, I, 663.Google Scholar As the years passed, the toll yielded less and less revenue because of the decline of the wool staple at Calais.—, Grunzweig, Correspondence, pp. xxxvi–xxxixGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁶ , Sieveking, Handlungsbücher der Medici, pp. 50, 62.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Ibid., p. 52.

⁴⁸ Evidence that the Burgundian galleys went as far as Constantinople is found in the account book of a Florentine merchant, Bernardo Cambi, who underwrote insurance on them for voyages from Flanders to Pisa and Constantinople. See Roover, Florence Edler de, “A Prize of War: A Painting of Fifteenth Century Merchants,” Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, XIX (1945), 3–11CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, “Early Examples of Marine Insurance,” The Journal of Economic History, V (1945). I9I. 194

⁴⁹ , Einstein, Italian Renaissance, pp. 245–49.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Bernard Portinari, a cousin of Tommaso, was manager of the Bruges branch from 1437 t o 1450 or thereabouts. He was replaced by Gierozzo de' Pigli who was transferred from London to Bruges. Pigli's successors were Angelo Tani (1455–65) and Tommaso Portinari (1465–80). In the latter year, the Medici withdrew from Bruges. The London branch was managed by Gierozzo de' Pigli (1446–50), by Simone Nori (1450–60), and by Giovanni de' Bardi (1460–66). Gherardo Canigiani never became manager of the London branch.

⁵¹ It is hard to believe that Cosimo was really ignorant of business conditions in Venice, where his firm maintained a branch office and where he, himself, while in exile, had resided about twelve years earlier (1433–34). The explanation of Cosimo's warning to Pigli against dealing with Venetians must be sought in the sphere of politics rather than that of business. In 1446, relations between Florence and Venice had ceased to be friendly and had become increasingly strained because of Cosimo's support of Francesco Sforza, who was bidding for the succession of the Visconti in Milan. Cosimo feared that Venice might conquer Lombardy, an event which would have upset the balance of power in Italy.—Nelson, E. W., “The Origins of Modern Balance-of-Power Politics,” Medievalia el Humanistica, I (1943), 124–42. The relations between the two republics went from bad to worse, and open warfare broke out in 1451 with Florence and Milan allied against Venice which received the support of the king of Naples. As soon as war was declared, the Florentine merchants were expelled from Venetian territory and their property was seized. Cosimo, foreseeing the course of events, had withdrawn most of his capital from Venice to Milan where he had opened a new branch (ca. 1450). Peace was not concluded until 1454. It is understandable that Cosimo did not want his partners to lend to Venetian merchants, when there was danger that such credits would be frozen or impounded in the event of war. This episode is an example of the way in which the business policy of the Medici was sometimes affected by political considerations.Google ScholarCf. Sche-vill, Ferdinand, History of Florence from the Founding of the City through the Renaissance (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936), PP. 360-61Google Scholar; Perrens, F. T., The History of Florence under the Domination of Cosimo, Piero, Lorenzo de' Medicis, 1434–1492 (London, 1892), pp. 64–123, esp. p. 103 concerning the confiscation of Florentine propertyGoogle Scholar.

⁵² René of Anjou, Count of Provence, was pretender to the crown of Naples.

⁵³ , Grunzweig, Correspondence, PP. xlv–xlix.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Ibid., p. xxvi.

⁵⁵ In a Latin document dated January 21, 1468 (N.S.), Portinari called himself socius el gubernator societatis egregii domini Petri de Medicts ac sociorum. This document was first published by Gottlob, Adolf, “Zwei ‘Instrumenta cambii’ zu Uebermittelung von Ablassgeld (1468),” Westdeutsche Zeitschrift fur Geschichte und Kunst, XXIX (1910), 208Google Scholar, and later translated into English by Lunt, William E., Papal Revenues in the Middle Ages (Records of Civilization, No. XIX, New York: Columbia University Press, 1934), II, 469–74. Lunt translates socius et gubernator as “colleague and governor” instead of “partner and governor” (meaning “manager”). “Colleague,” to the best of my knowledge, is not a term used in business. Procuratore would have been better translated as “proxy” or “attorney” than by “proctor.” The expression £ grossorum monete Flandrie should have been translated as “£ groat of Flemish money” and not as “£ of the large money of Flanders,” which is meaningless. The standard expression in English for indulgentiarum plenissarum is “plenary indulgences” and not “fullest indulgences.”Google Scholar

⁵⁶ A factor could not represent a firm in public instruments without power of attorney. A good example is given in the document quoted in note 55, which is a deed wherein Cristofano Spini acknowledged the receipt of a sum of £1,773 Ios. 3d. groat as attorney for, and in the name of, Tommaso Portinari (procuratore el ex nomine). Spini gave acquittance in virtue of a power of attorney drawn up in Bruges on January 16, 1468 (N.S.).

⁵⁷ , Gutkind's statement (Cosimo, p. 183) that Cavalcanti was “an expert on French con-nexions” is confusing. There was no “French” court and nobility in Bruges. “French-speaking” instead of “French” would have been less misleading.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ The assertions by , Gutkind (Cosimo, p. 174)Google Scholar that double-entry bookkeeping had not yet been introduced and that few facts are known about the accounting system of the Medici bank are absolutely wrong. Gutkind is apparently repeating the misstatements of Meltzing, Otto, Das Bankhaus der Medici und seine Vorläufer (Jena, 1906), p. 83.Google Scholar The studies of Ceccherelli and Sieveking listed by Mr. Gutkind in his bibliography prove the contrary. The Medici kept their accounts with great accuracy. Furthermore, balance sheets were comprehensive and included all assets and liabilities.

⁵⁹ , Grunzweig, Correspondance, pp. xxv–xxvii.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ , Sieveking, Handlungsbücher der Medici, p. 52.Google Scholar

⁶¹ , Pagnini, Delia decima, II, 304–5.Google Scholar

⁶² I question very much , Gutkind's statement (Cosimo, p. 183)Google Scholar that “cloth made from English wool was also produced by the [Medici] firm itself in Flanders.” The Medici made contracts with tapestry makers concerning special orders, but did not try to make either cloth or tapestries in their own establishment in Flanders. I have not found a shred of evidence to prove that the Medici branch in Bruges “bought the wool, spun, and wove it.”—Ibid., p. 202.

⁶³ , Grunrweig, Correspondonce, p. xxii.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Mazzi, Curzo, “La Compagnia mercantile di Piero e Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici in Milano nel 1459,” Rivista delle biblioteche e degli archivi, XVIII (1907), 17–31Google Scholar. For example, the cloth account contains several items relating to pieces of cloth sent to Milan by i nostri lanaioli di Firenze, that is, by our cloth manufacturers in Florence. The Milan branch also sold English and Flemish cloth received on consignment from the Medici company in Bruges.—Ibid., p. 24. The text should read: “E di 14 d'ottobre £316 per tanti ragionamo qui £17 s.15 d.6 di grossi [not di guadagno] di Bruggia mettendo a grossi [not a guadagno] 54 1/2 per ducato.” The money of Bruges was the pound groat called lira di grossi in Italian.

⁶⁵ , Sieveking, Handlungsbiicher der Medici, p. 9.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Canestrini, Giuseppe, La Scienza e I'arte di stato; ordinamenti economici: della finanza, parte 1, l'imposte sulla ricchezza mobile e immobile (Florence, 1862), p. 157Google Scholar; Ehrenberg, Richard, Das Zeilalter der Fugger (3d ed.; Jena, 1922), I, 47Google Scholar.

⁶⁷ , Gutkind (Cosimo, p. 194) states that, in 1432, the capital was Fl. 10,000 for each of the two shops. This figure is certainly erroneous and is apparently based upon the assumption that the tax rate was one half of 1 per cent. We do not know the rate for the levy of 1432, but it was certainly higher than one half of 1 per cent.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Doren, Alfred, Studien aus derFlorentiner Wirtschaftsgeschichte: Vol. I, Die Florentiner Wollentuchindustrie (Stuttgart, 1901)Google Scholar; Roover], Florence Edler [de, Glossary of Mediaeval Terms of Business, Italian. Series, 1200–1600 (Cambridge: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1934), especially the appendixes, pp. 335–426Google Scholar; Roover, Raymond de, “A Florentine Firm of Cloth Manufacturers,” Speculum, XVI (1941), 3–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁹ , Edler, Glossary, pp. 324–29, gives a complete list of these steps.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ , Sieveking, Aus Genueser Rechnungs- und Steuerbüchern, p. 101.Google Scholar

⁷¹ I am indebted for this information to my wife, Florence Edler de Roover, who has made a careful study of the Lucchese silk industry. Cf. , Edler, Glossary, pp. 330–31Google Scholar.

⁷² , Sieveking, Handlungsbücher der Medici, p. 47.Google Scholar

⁷³ , Sieveking, Aus Genueser Rechnungs- und Steuerbiichern, p. 101.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ The figure of Fl. 28,800 is made up as follows:

⁷⁵ The figure of Fl. 7,900 is made up as follows: