The Deposits of Hugh Despenser the Younger with Italian Bankers

Abstract

O NE of the most important economic developments in thirteenth-century Europe was the large-scale penetration into the countries of north-western Europe by Italian business men.2 Their success was partly due to possession of more advanced financial and trading technique and the efficiency with which their enterprises were organized, but in the case of the more important Italian firms operating in France, the Netherlands and England, drawn in the second half of the thirteenth century mainly from the Tuscan cities of Siena, Lucca, Florence and Pistoia, it was based above all on the possession of large financial resources. The original capital came from the merchants who founded the companies, but as each company grew, an ever-increasing proportion of its funds came from deposits of third persons. Most of these firms were chiefly preoccupied with trade from which much of their profits derived, and financial dealings, including deposit banking, formed only one side of their activities. This aspect of Italian business, though of fundamental importance, is still comparatively little known.3 We know some general facts about the reasons for which deposits were made: preoccupation with safe keeping of money, desire of investment for profit and the need to facilitate one's financial operations and to' make payments without actually having to transfer cash were all operative. The way in which deposits were made and the legal problems connected with them have been much discussed.4 But we remain largely. ignorant about the actual derivation of most of the deposits. Did the bulk of the funds come from merchants interested in facilitating their financial operations rather than seeking safe investment? Was the money chiefly derived from Italy, and within Italy from Tuscany? To what extent were the financial and trading operations of the Italian firms in the countries of north-western Europe financed by money raised in those countries? The scarcity of readily available evidence has led some historians to adopt the view that the medieval Italian companies were financed mainly with