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Italian Bankers and the English Crown

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2009

Robert Jowitt Whitwell
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Extract

THE geographical position of Britain made her dependent upon the Mediterranean races—with their higher civilisation and more advanced mechanical processes—for the development of the natural resources of the island.

Her distance from the central marts of the world was counterbalanced in the dawn of her history by the excellence and cheapness of her tin and hides; and in the eleventh and later centuries by the primacy of her wools in all the textile work of Europe.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 17 , December 1903 , pp. 175 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1902

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References

page 175 note 1 See note on p. 217.

page 176 note 1 Sect. 41 of Stubbs's, edition in Sel. Charters, v. (1895) 301Google Scholar.

page 176 note 2 De l' Esprit des Lois, xx. xiv.

page 176 note 3 Mirour de l'omme, 25430–25440.

page 177 note 1 That some originally came to England as collectors of papal taxes (see Matthew Paris, cited below, p. 196) is undoubted; but the recently published Calendars of Patent and Close Rolls and other available documents warrant us in saying that the more important and influential firms were intrusted with the papal finance after they had established their trade in the country. Professor Cunningham (Growth of Engl. Inthtst. and Comm.: Early and Middle Ages (1900) 11. iv. § 69, 186) shows, by his choice of words, that he expected to find evidence in this direction as new documents were published.

So serious a book as Goldschmidt's, L.Handbuch des Handelsrechts (1891, I. I. III. v. § 7, 186Google Scholar) finds the origin of commercial intercourse between England and Italy in the semi-mythical stammvater of the Irish Geraldines: ‘Bereit Ende des II. Jahrhs. ist ein reicher Florentiner ansassig: Otto degli Gherardini.’ I need hardly say that this note does not allude to the Frenchman named.

page 177 note 2 The magnitude of their financial operations, and their entire control of the revenues of the kingdom, have been related in a paper by Mr. Charles Johnson, of the P.R.O. (printed in the Transactions of the St. Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, i. (1903) 320–334), where interesting particulars are added as to the negotiations with the pope for the capture of certain members of the firm who had fled from England.

page 178 note 1 Archives Nat., Trésor des Chartes J. 654, No. xvi. in Notices et extraits xx. (1862) II. 126Google Scholar.

page 179 note 1 An apt illustration of the complete control by certain Italian merchants of French revenues will be found in a letter dated at Rocheamadour, May 7, 1289, transcribed in Liber B., fol. 36, from Ralph de Breuellio, knight, seneschal for the French king of the Péigordais and Caorsin, authorising Edward I. or his representatives at Bordeaux to pay certain sums to ‘Bacus boni Amici and Armand Orlandi of Florence, receivers of the king's money in his sénéchaussée.’ The latter will give a receipt under ‘the seal which we use in our said sénéchaussée, whereupon is the following inscription: “S. fresquembaudor' & francescor' & landuch.;” and in the centre is a certain lily flower, and certain letters s. C. by the flower.’

page 179 note 2 A statement of the present position of these publications and a brief notice of some of the financial rolls, combined with some proofs that support the statement as to interest, will be found in Appendix A.

page 179 note 3 They amounted in April 1255 to over 90,000 l. (

page 179 note 4 Paris, Matthew, Chron. Maj. (Rolls) v. 510–3, 557–9Google Scholar. See also the littera papales miserabiles of June 1256 (ibid. 581–4) and the Additamenta, vi. 307–11.

page 179 note 5 ‘Whose memory exhales a sulphurous and most foul stench,’ Paris, M., ubi supra, 510Google Scholar. Possibly the fact that St. Albans Abbey was bound under this scheme for 500 marks (Gesta Abbatum Monast. S. Albani (Rolls), i. 382–3) accounts for Matthew's adjectives.

page 180 note 1 Chron Maj. v. 584.

page 180 note 2 Ibid. 533.

page 180 note 3 Rymer's, Fœdera, i. 337Google Scholar.

page 180 note 4 Cf. the date of the document in Paris, M., Chron. Maj. (Rolls) vi. 350Google Scholar.

page 182 note 1 Le Commerce el les Marchands dans l'ltalie méridionale au XIIIe et au XIVe Sièle (Paris 1903), p. 264Google Scholar.

page 182 note 2 ‘Account of Luca [Natale] of Lucca, Orlandino di Poggio, and other their partners [Ricciardi of Lucca] of all their receipts and expenses, as well this side the sea as beyond, from November 20, 1272, to September 29, 1279.’ Accounts, &c, Exch. K.R., Bundle 126, No. 1.

page 182 note 3 ‘Account of Riccardo Guidiccioni and his partners.’ Chancellor's Roll 15 Edw. I. m. 3 d.

page 183 note 1 For the second period we have, unfortunately, only Receipt Rolls for two years; the following comparison shows the income from each source:

page 183 note 2 Account, Exch. K.R., Bundle 351, No. 4. This includes a sum of 10,000 l., ‘moneys lent by the merchants of Lucca to make up the expenses of the house-hold,’ which was charged on the customs.

page 183 note 3 Ibid. No. 10. This includes loans from various persons and societies amounting to 30,466 l. 17 s. 3 d. As to the contributions of Italians, &c, see Appendix A, p. 219.

page 183 note 4 Some idea of the small amounts available for sudden expenditure may be deduced from the Jornalia Rolls, which show the amounts carried down from day to day and from one account to another. We have also a single Treasurer's Account of the reign of Edward I. (Exch. T.R. Treasurer's Rolls, No. 1) from which I note some of the sums carried down on the various dates on which a balance was struck:

On February 29, 1286, an account had been taken which showed a balance o. 2 l. 8 s. I d. in the treasury. On subsequent balances (e.g. February 11, 1288) the expenditure proved exactly equal to the receipts, and the account closes on July 16, 1289, with the magnificent balance in hand of 2 l. 13 s. 8½ d.

page 184 note 1 We find Baroncino Galteri with Edward I. in the Welsh expeditions of 1282–3; on April 14, 1282, at Devizes; on May 16 at Worcester, on July 9 at Rhuddlan; and at the same place on June 20, 1283. (Rot. Wallitz 10 Edw. I. memb. 9 and 5; 11 Edw. I. m. 1.)

page 184 note 2 Cf. Pat. Roll 27 Edward I. m. 27, May 6, 1299.

page 184 note 3 A quite exceptional ‘tightness’ of money is exemplified by entries in the Receipt Roll (Pells) No. 102, under dates 18, 19, and 21 October, which show that the four sums of 500 m. stated in Misc. Roll (Chanc.) Bundle 16, No. 13, to have been received on October 19, 1295 (see post, p. 219), were as a matter of fact paid into the Great Receipt in eight instalments (varying between 100 m. and 400 m.) spread over four days. Usually, much larger sums were promptly paid in.

page 184 note 4 A contrast is afforded by the price which the Emperor Frederick II. had to pay for funds to carry on his Italian campaign of 1239. On October 14 (to take one instance out of many) in the camp of Milan Frederick borrowed 16 l. 8 s. 5 d. or grossi Veneziani from Gualterio de' Cesalini and Pietro Giurda, merchants of Rome. In the event of non-payment the emperor's secretary is bound to pay the lenders ‘pro dampnis in interesse sicut eveniet, ad rationem de tribus unciis dandis per mensem de unciis centum.’ (Regesta, 12 b, in Huillard-Bréholles, , Hist, diplom. Frid. II. V. I. 446–7.)Google Scholar

page 185 note 1 The true Caorsin was not so generous. We have the facts stated in Appendix A (p. 220); and the further fact that in the financial distress of 1255, apparently before Peter of Aigueblanche had mooted his plan of raising funds, Henry, III made ‘representations by Simon Passelewe to the houses of Westminster, St. Albans, Reading, and Waltham, that he proposed to raise money from merchants of Cahors, upon the joint and several bones of the four houses for 2,000 marks and 500 marks usury’ (Gesta Abbatum Monast. S. Albani (Rolls), i. 379Google Scholar.) As loans were almost invariably repayable at twelve months' date, we are justified in concluding that the rate of interest in this case was 25 per cent, per annum.

page 185 note 2 Bond, (Archœologia, xxviii. 228)Google Scholar says: ‘Interest was very rarely promised for loans which the king received of the Italians. An exact equivalent seems to have been returned for the amount borrowed, and the usual remuneration was a premium, sometimes conditioned for at the time, but apparently more often voluntarily conferred, in consideration of losses and expenses occasioned by a delay in repayment.’ See Rhodes, , ubi infra, p. 140Google Scholar.

page 185 note 3 I believe the whole of these exceptions, for the period for which evidence is available, are dealt with below.

page 185 note 4 There is one exception only of which I am aware. This was in the case of a loan negotiated in Italy when Edward was at Orvieto on his return from the Holy Land, and on February 18, 1273, borrowed from the Scotti of Piacenza 8,000 l. tournois. He agreed to pay to them or to the bearer of his bond 3,000 marks (the normal equivalent) at the New Temple at or before Midsummer, and, in case of non-payment, ‘to restore and make good all damages, expenses, and interesse that the merchants or any of them should incur or sustain for recovering such money with the principal debt.’ (Diplom. Doc. Exch. T. R. Box 1, No. 13). That Edward actually paid nothing in respect of ‘damages’ in this case is rendered almost certain by the fact that a sum of 1,000 marks borrowed at the same time from a Florentine firm was repaid without any addition in 1275. Pat. Roll 3 Edw. I. m. 17.

page 185 note 5 Unless in two cases during the Welsh war of 1282–3. See App. A, p. 220.

page 186 note 1 For an example, see the commendation to the pope of Giovanni and Filippo de' Frescobaldi on Roman Roll 4 Edw. II. m. 24.

page 186 note 2 See writ to chancellor of December 3, 1310, on Pat. Roll 4 Edw. II., part 11., m. 7.

page 186 note 3 The late SirEdward, A. Bond in 1839 communicated to the Society of Antiquaries (Archœologia, xxviii. 207–326Google Scholar) a series of ‘Extracts from the Liberate Rolls relative to Loans supplied by Italian Merchants to the Kings of England in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries; with an introductory Memoir.’ In this pioneer work, Bond printed writs of liberate only from what are known as ‘Early Chancery Rolls.’ In verifying some of his copying—which is not entirely reliable—I have discovered many omissions, and the further fact that he did not refer to the Liberate or Receipt Rolls of the Exchequer or Receipt even for those years in which the Chancery Rolls are missing. In addition, he copied the whole of the roll now quoted as ‘Miscellaneous Roll (Chancery), Bundle 16, No. 13,’ relating to the ‘Great Prest’ of 1294–9.

Since I entered on the work, MrRhodes, W. E. has published in the volume of Historical Essays by Members of the Owens College, Manchester, London, 1902, pp. 137–167Google Scholar, a paper on ‘The Italian Bankers in England and their Loans to Edward I. and Edward II.’ This essay relies mainly on Bond's work and on the printed Calendars of Patent and Close Rolls. Each author shows very large sums borrowed from or paid to Italian bankers, amounting in the case of the Frescobaldi Bianchi to 121,941 l. 2 s. 11¼ d. in the course of twentyone years, and a total of such borrowings for the reigns of the first two Edwards of some 420,000 l.

Mr. Rhodes has much facilitated the work of others by the full reference which he has given for every transaction noted by him, and especially by his information as to what members of each firm were for the time being active in its English counting-house.

page 187 note 1 ‘Filius [sc. Henricus juvenis] plus homine dilectus extiterat, pater vero cunctis infestus et exosus’ (De Princ. Instruct. II. viii. Wks. (Rolls) viii. 173); and in the following chapter ‘tanquam alter Priameius Hector, suis honor, hostibus horror, omnibus amor.’

page 187 note 2 Benvenuti de Rambaldis de Imola Comentum super Dantis Conuzdiam (1887), ii. 377–3.

page 187 note 3 Canon Edward Moore, whom I asked whether any other early commentator on Dante speaks of this loan, stigmatises this touching and circumstantial narrative as a ‘cock-and-bull story,’ and says that it had no support elsewhere. I am not disposed to quarrel with the epithet; but it seems quite likely that loans were made by Italians to Henry, though all but impossible that the Bardi could have been concerned in them.

page 188 note 1 The scope of this paper does not extend to the payments made to Italian shipowners and merchants for the transport and victualling of English contingents to the crusades. I have searched in vain for information on such payments in the Archives of Pisa, and I am not aware of any at Genoa, the two places where it seemed most likely to be found. If the documents could be recovered, their study would give us results of the greatest value.

page 188 note 2 Notes as to some of such transactions with English ecclesiastics, prior in date to transactions with English sovereigns, will be found in Appendix B. The historian, Peter of Blois, figures in connexion with the earliest of which I can produce exact details.

page 188 note 3 Bond has printed in Archœologia, xxviii. (216–7 = Charter Roll I John, 21 d) the bond of August 25, 1199, mentioned in Appendix B, note 1.

page 188 note 4 They were sometimes provided also with facilities in negotiation. The account of William Marshall, senior, of the issues of the Wardrobe (Foreign Roll, No. 1, m. 4: 1224–7) includes an entry: ‘Et v. cardinalibus v. smaragdos de dono per Philippum de Hadham per breve regis.’ See App. C, Nos. 27, 29.

page 188 note 5 One of the very few instances of such a letter addressed to an individual firm is a writ of July 5, 1242, to Chiaro Ugolini of Florence and his partners: ‘Mandamus vobis rogantes quatenus abbati de Alta Cumba [Hautecombe, Savoy] ac magistro Bernardo de Romanuz, quos pro negociis nostris ad Curiam Romanam destinaraus, vel eorum alteri, mutuum mille marcarum detis,’—the king promising to repay the same (Rôles Gascons, No. 1057). Chiaro had had considerable sums belonging to Henry in his possession very shortly before.

A rare, and possibly unique, instance of an unlimited credit will be found in the letter of Edward I., dated at Laverdans, May 8, 1289, in which the king informs ‘his friends, Labrus Vulpelli and partners, dwelling in Rome,’ that he is sending to the Curia his secretary Otho de Grandison, knight, and begs them ‘to supply liberally and securely such loan to Otho as he shall consider the business requires,’ promising to answer for such sum. (Rôles Gascons, II. No. 1488.) It was doubtless in recompense for this loan that Edward granted (November 4, 1290: Pat. Roll 18 Edw. I. m. 2) 5,000 marks to the Ricciardi ‘for their services at the Court of Rome.’

page 189 note 1 E.g. Rot. Pat. (1835) 4 b, S, 9, 10, &c. See Archœologia, xxviii. 217.

page 189 note 2 Yver, M. G. (Le Commerce et les Marchands dans l'ltalie miridionale au XIIIe et au XIVe Siècle, Paris, 1903)Google Scholar has collected a number of instances of charges for the transmission of money from Naples in the first quarter of the fourteenth century. In 1309 the rate to Genoa was 4 per cent., to Avignon 8 per cent., to Rome 12 per cent., and to Paris 13 per cent. In the first of these cases at any rate, and probably in others, the money was transmitted by a document of credit and not in specie. We may assume that the rate between Rome and London could not be less than 5 per cent.

page 190 note 1 See below, pp. 192, 196–7.

page 190 note 2 Along with another for 20 l. and one for 26 l. 13 s. 4 d. (Pat. Roll II Hen. III. m. 12.) The bishop had converted all his notes into cash.

page 191 note 1 Printed in Rot. Lit. Claus. ii. 42 b.

page 192 note 1 Exch. Tr. Rec., Warrants for Issues, Bundle I b. The writ is printed carelessly by Bond from the Chancery enrolment (Liberate Roll, 28 Edw. I. m. 4) in Archœologia, xxviii. 291, No. cix.

page 192 note 2 A copy of the writ and its indorsements will be found in App. E.

page 193 note 1 See past, p. 218, for the reason for closing the list at this point. It must always be remembered that the series of Liberate Rolls is not unbroken.

page 193 note 2 Over two hundred writs of liberate are printed by Bond in the paper mentioned. It may be of interest, however, to print this writ here, as relating to the earliest transaction of this class: ‘Henricus, &c. Liberate de thesauro nostro Petro Gwybertini et sociis suis civibus Bononiæ C libras quas ei debemus pro quietancia debiti Regis Ricardi avunculi nostri quod eis debuit per instrumenta ejusdem Regis quæ habemus in thesauro nostro. Teste H[uberto] de Burgh Justiciario nostro apud Westmonasterium vm. die Novembris anno regni nostri mi. Per Dominum Legatum et Dominum Winton. Justiciarium.— Exch. Treas. Rec., Warrants for Issues, No. 964.

page 194 note 1 Charter Roll 2 John 35, d, in Rot. Chart. 96 b.

page 194 note 2 Pat. Roll 16 Hen. III. 7 d, in Shirley, Roy. Lett. Hen. III. (Rolls) i.

page 195 note 1 In 1239 merchants of Rome and Siena (including Bobo di Giovanni Boboni, a predecessor of the Bonsignori) charged only the same rate of interest to so unimportant a person as the abbot of St. Gall in Lombardy on a loan of 270 silver marks (Schulte, , Handelsverkehr, i. 248–9Google Scholar).

page 195 note 2 E.g. Angelerio Solaficci and partners of Siena (App. D, No. 15), and many others. See also Muratori, Antiq. Ital. i. 889.

page 195 note 3 See Appendix B.

page 195 note 4 Rymer's, Fœdera, i. 365Google Scholar.

page 196 note 1 In this connexion it may be noted that the earliest references to English sterlings that ProfessorPatetta, (Bull, senese di Storia patria iv. 320)Google Scholar has found in the Archives of Siena, are in Archivio generate, 1228, 06Google Scholar 26 and October 30, and 1229, March 6.

page 196 note 2 Chron. Maj. (Rolls) iii. 188–9.

page 196 note 3 Chron. Maj. (Rolls) iii. 328–31. A notarial copy of an actual bond in somewhat similar terms, granted by N., the prior, and the Convent of Sempringham in 1250 to Iacopo Uguiccione andGodofredo Renieri in London, partners of Alessandro Salimbene and Reginaldo Giovanelli and their partners of Siena, had been described from a Vercelli MS. in Turin (D. 5.29), by ProfessorPatetta, in the Bullettino senese di Storia patria, iv. (1897) 311–344Google Scholar. The variations from the formula given by Matthew Paris are recorded at pp. 322 sq. The loan in this case was of 168 m., of which 80 m. were to be repaid at Easter 1251, and the balance at midsummer of that year. In default, 60 per cent, for recompense (as above) and the expenses of a merchant with a horse and a servant until full payment should be made.

page 196 note 4 1209, December 20. At Winchester, for the expenses of merchants of Piacenza for the past six days, 1 l. 18 s. 6 d. paid to John of Lisieux. (Ed. 1844, 143.)

1210, February 5. At the Tower of London. To Paganus Plangburn and Guidotto, Pastorello, and Gerardo, merchants of Piacenza, who came into England for their debt which they lent to the Emperor by the king's license, twenty marks, of the king's gift. (Ibid. 148.)

page 196 note 5 Called ‘Vermulgio Laurentii’ in a recognizance of January 1236, whereby (in supplement to a bond) William de Gloucestria and Richard de Langedon bound Henry III. to pay to Lorenzi and his partner 100 m. at the New Temple at the octave of St. John Baptist. There is no provision as to damages, expenses, or interesse in this recognizance. (Diplom. Doc. Chanc. No. 9.)

page 197 note 1 Two may be noted here: on August 11, 1243, Henry III. ordered (Rôles Gascons, i. No. 1870) payment to certain Florentine merchants of twenty marks, which Bartholomew Peche received from them as a loan when he went as the king's envoy to the Emperor, et ijas marcas de paena quia non observavit diem inter ipsum et prcedictos mercatores pmfixum de mutuo pradicto eis reddendo.

The Issue Roll (Pells) for Easter, 43 Hen. III., m. 1, shows a payment of twenty marks to Guido Bonconti, merchant, of the king's gift, for the damages which he sustained by reason of the loan he made to the king. It may be noted that payment of this sum had been ordered by a writ of liberate dated April 15 of the preceding year. (Liberate Roll, Exch. of Rec, 1258–9.)

page 197 note 2 On November 4, 1290, five thousand marks were granted to the Ricciardi of Lucca for their services at the court of Rome, the sum to be paid June 25, 1291. (Pat. Roll 18 Edw. I. m. 2.) The sums received by the Frescobaldi are set forth below.

page 197 note 3 For the sake of completeness, note must here be made of a comparatively small payment of this sort, and the only one recorded in the reign of Henry III. By writ of February 26, 1272, the king ordered the treasurer and chamberlains to pay to Poncius de Mora, his merchant, 133 l. 6 s. 8 d., ‘which the king granted him of his gift, in recompense of the damages sustained by Poncius in the loan of money made at various times to the king.’ (Liberate Roll, Chanc., 56 Hen. III. m. 9; Bond, xlvi. b.)

page 198 note 1 Ancient Correspondence, xlvii, 120.

page 199 note 1 ‘Ces sunt les profitz que lesditz marchanz ont eu de nostre seignur le Rey en lauantdit tens. Cestassauoir nostre seignur le Rey lour dona par iij fois: iiijm1li desterlinges.

'Item ont gaigne du Change que il lour dona: ijml vije mars desterlinges.

'Item ont gaigne du change de Tornois que il ont pays de la outre, et ont resceu les Esterlins pardeca: ml. mars desterlinges.

‘Item ont gaigne en ce que horn lour ad acunte Esterlins pur pollardz: ve mars desterlinges.’

page 199 note 2 On April 12, 1300, Edward granted 1,000 l. (Pat. Roll 28 Edw. I. m. 18) and on April 5, 1301, 2,000 l. (Pat. Roll 29 Edw. I. m. 19). I am unable to find when the second payment of 1,000 l. was made.

page 199 note 3 Pat. Roll 28 Edw. I. m. 21. ced.

page 199 note 4 Ibid. m. 20.

page 199 note 5 Facilitated, apparently, by the authorities. On June 11 a number of double pollards, to the amount of 326 l. 3 s. 11½ d., were delivered, under the order of the Treasurer of the Exchequer, to the Frescobaldi, to be melted down as well at York as at Newcastle. Liber Quotid. Contrarotularii 28 Edw. I. fo. 67, in Frost, Hull, 60, note.

page 200 note 1 On March 27, 1275, Luke de Lucca and his partners were appointed (Pat. Roll 3 Edw. I. m. 29) to take a certain custom called ‘the New Aid,’ levied on goods and merchandise coming into England.

page 200 note 2 History ofCustoms (1885), ii. 46.

page 200 note 3 Newcastle:

page 201 note 1 At the same time similar allowances were made to the following Italian merchants, all being members of the syndicate of eleven societies to whom the king was indebted in 28,966 l. 13 s. 4 d. See App. A.

page 202 note 1 Accounts, Exchequer, K.R., Bundle 126, No. 9, m. I.

page 202 note 2 Close Roll 2 Edw. II. m. 11

page 202 note 3 Rot. Parl. ii. 169.

page 202 note 4 Rot. Parl. ii. 307 b.

page 203 note 1 On March 12, 1232, Contadino, merchant of Siena, had the king's letters to come to England, to trade there, and to return thence, up to Christmas, 1232. (Pat. Roll 16 Hen. III. m. 7.)

page 203 note 2 On July 23, 1227, Gregorio Palmieri (le Palmer) of Siena was granted protection (for himself and his servants) in the lands and revenues of Robert Passelewe, which he had from Robert in quittance of a debt, specially against Robert's servants; such letters to last until the debt was paid.

page 203 note 3 In spite of occasional reversions to the old law, as when (July 16, 1275, Close Roll 3 Edw. I. m. 7) the king ordered the mayor and sheriffs of London not to permit strange merchants to stay in the city after the fortieth day after their entry into the city; ‘but they shall sell their wines and wares within the said forty days.’

page 203 note 4 Comm. in. iv. 45.

page 204 note 1 Memoranda, Communia, Mich. 4 and 5 Edw. I. m. 1, in Madox, , Exch. (1711), p. 597Google Scholar. Such grants took the following form: ‘To the barons of the Exchequer. Order that they cause such debts due to William de Tournemyre and William Servat [of Cahors] and other their partners in England as they shall reasonably prove, to be paid and owed according to the custom of the Ex. chequer.’ Memoranda, K.R., Mich. 9 Edw. I., m. 3. A similar grant to the Florentine Diotaiuto Guglielmi, merchant of the queen-mother (whom Henry III. had done his best to make for all purposes a citizen of London: Engl. Hist. Rev. xviii. 315), is enrolled on the Exchequer Memoranda Roll of Trinity 1276, m. 10, and printed in Maynard's, Reports (1678), p. 6Google Scholar.

page 204 note 2 Pollock, and Maitland, , Hist. Engl. Law, ii. 202Google Scholar; see Baildon, W. P., Sel. Civil Pleas (1890), p. 42Google Scholar. We find enrolments also on an Assize Roll. See Cartul. Abbatia de Rievalle (1889), 409.

page 204 note 3 See Calendar of Close Rolls 2 Edw. II., p. 141.

page 204 note 4 See Close Rolls, passim.

page 204 note 5 Recognitio Philippi de Arcy: Communia, Easter, 41 Hen. III., in Memoranda, L.T.R., m. 14.

page 205 note 1 In Michaelmas term, 1278, the single firm of the Ricciardi of Lucca appear as creditors in eleven recognizances, to the total amount of 1,399 l. I s. 9 d. and in later terms the number and the amounts are larger still.

page 205 note 2 Repeating the order contained in a writ of which I have not found the enrolment, but whi$h was issued prior to April 1, 1279 (Memoranda, L.T.R., Easter, 7 Edw. I. m. 4). The writ of October 7, is printed, with some errors, in SirMaynard's, J.Reports (1678), p. 10Google Scholar.

page 205 note 3 ‘Scientes etiam pro certo quod si secus actum vel attemptatum per vos fuerit in praemissis, nos, eo potius quod res nostra agitur, manum correctionis qualem decebit contra vos ad hoc apponemus’ (Memoranda, L. T. R., Mich. 7 Edw. I., m. 2 (K.R. I b). The energy of the language suggests that John de Cobbeham (in whose name the writ was tested) had reason to fear that the ecclesiastic addressed might assert his exclusive jurisdiction in the matter against the royal command.

page 205 note 4 Sect. 26 in Stubbs's, Sel. Charters (1895), P. 3:—Google Scholar ‘If any that holds of us a lay fee should die, and the sheriff or our bailiff show our letters patent of summons for a debt that the deceased owed to us, it shall be lawful for the sheriff or bailiff to attach and imbreviate the chattels of the deceased in the lay fee to the value of the debt by view of lawful men. But so that nothing be removed until the debt that was clear shall have been paid to us, and the residue be left to the executors, to perform the will of the deceased.’ Instances of the levy of such direct debts are common enough (Madox, , Hist. Exch. (1711) XXII. vii. 562–3Google Scholar).

page 206 note 1 Ibid. xii. 669, citing Communia of Trinity 1290. This writ directs the barons of the Exchequer to levy on the goods of John, late bishop of Ely, the debts of Ricardo Guidiccioni and Orlandino de Poggio ‘ac si debita Regis propria fuerint,’ without the fictitious statement of the writ of 1279 that they were also the king's debts.

page 206 note 2 See Madox, , ubi sup. p. 666Google Scholar.

page 206 note 3 Finanz. Bezieh. florent. Bankiers z. Kirche (1899), chapter 1.

page 207 note 1 Annales de Oseneia in Ann. Men. (Rolls) iv. 107–112.

page 207 note 2 Archivio della famiglia Tolomei di Siena, No. 10, in Paoli, and Piccolomini, , Lettere volgari del secolo XIII. (1871), p. 129Google Scholar.

page 208 note 1 Matt. Paris, , Hist. Angl. (Rolls), ii. 382Google Scholar, an. 1235. I find little actual evidence of such infection in his time, however.

page 208 note 2 On July 9, 1224, Ranuccio Spinelli and Restauro Gregorio of Siena, and Donato, Simonetto, and Guido della Spada of Florence, had licence to come and trade in England up to Christmas of the same year. (Pal. Roll 8 Hen. III. m. 7.) And on September 23 and October 25 the Florentine merchants named had (with other partners) licences to make two voyages from England with cargoes of their goods without hindrance. (Ibid. m. 3, m. 2.)

page 208 note 3 The Florentine merchants from whom Henry III. borrowed (as mentioned on p. 194) I, 200 m. at 120 per cent, in 1232 were apparently of the same firm as, on September 14, 1226, had licence to lade ten bales (truscellos, doubtless of wool) on a ship at Shoreham and take the same to parts beyond seas, in spite of the king's order for the arrest of all ships (Rot. Litt. Claus.xx. 137 b) on their return after a business voyage, for which they had licence on the previous July 7. (Ibid. 128 b.)

page 208 note 4 Paris, M., Chron. Maj. (Rolls) iii. 332Google Scholar. See also his account of the result of the flight in 1245 of Master Martin, the pope's clerk, when he ran great risk of being murdered. (Ibid. iv. 422.)

page 209 note 1 Paris, M., Chron. Maj. (Rolls) iv. 8Google Scholar: ‘And in particular those of Siena.’

page 209 note 2 Paris, M., Hist. Angl. (Rolls) ii. 382Google Scholar.

page 209 note 3 Paris, M., Chron. Maj. (Rolls) v. 245Google Scholar.

page 209 note 4 De Planctu Ecclesia (1474), ii. 46 R.

page 210 note 1 Cf. Blackstone, , Comm. i. 477Google Scholar. English law has added that it has no mind. Per Alderson, B., 10 Exch. 356.

page 210 note 2 Studien in der romanisch-kanonistischen Wirtschafts- und Rechtslehrc (1874–83).

page 210 note 3 Das ZeitaUer der Fugger (1896), i. 32 note.

page 210 note 4 Zur Geschickte der Handelsgesellschaften im Mittelalter (1899) iv. 113–4.

page 210 note 5 ‘That method of employing capital reached its development before the supremacy of the doctrine of usury, and later, when that doctrine had attained a real significance, was sacrificed to it. This was not indeed because of the sharing of the risk, but because of the cerium lucrum, which shows clearly that the prohibition of usury was not the origin of its characteristic structure.’ (Ibid. p. 109.)

page 210 note 6 Fo. 209, 209 b.

page 210 note 7 Bull of December 30, 1261, in Rymer's Fadera, i. 414.

page 211 note 1 Reg. Cam. Urb. IV. Nos. 10, 48, 51, 52.

page 211 note 2 Close Roll 2 Edw. I. m. I.

page 212 note 1 Close Roll 3 Edw. I. m. 23.

page 212 note 2 3 Edw. I. m. 21.

page 212 note 3 Diplomatic Documents, Chancery, No. 33.

page 212 note 4 Cf. the acquittances of February 7, 1277, on Pat. Roll 5 Edw. I. m. 22.

page 212 note 5 Statutes (Record ed.), i. 133.

page 212 note 6 Pat. Roll 28 Edw. I. m. 20.

page 213 note 1 Pat. Roll 28 Edw. I. membs. 9, 8.

page 213 note 2 The recognizances above described were not the primary security, and were not made for every loan.

page 213 note 3 See above, p. 196, note 3.

page 213 note 4 Paris, M., Chron. Maj. (Rolls) v. 40 5Google Scholar.

page 214 note 1 That some sums were so handed over is clear from the terms of the secret treaty made with Siena after the defeat of Lucca in 1263, whereby the men of Lucca bound themselves to restore to Siena all money taken from her in France, England, or elsewhere by the pope's legate, or by the commune or merchants of Lucca, the amount to be fixed by the vicarius. Documents of October 8, 1264, and July 20, 1265; in Caleffo vecchio 462 b, 465 in Perrens's, F.T.Hist, de Flor. IV. i. (1877) ii. 12Google Scholar.

page 214 note 2 Paoli, and Piccolomini, , Xetlere volgari del secolo XIII. (1871), p. 47Google Scholar.

page 215 note 1 Paoli, and Piccolomini, , Lettere volgari del secolo XIII. (1871), p. 35Google Scholar. The fiction is kept up all through the accounts.

page 215 note 2 In a letter of September 4, 1262, dated at Troyes, Andrea de' Tolomei tells the partners in Siena: ‘Guido Toscho [of Parma (ibid. p. 55)] had a letter from Messer Aduardo [afterwards Edward I.] of safe conduct to go to England, on the petition of Master Alberto da Parma; and I believe it is sufficient and to be relied on, and that it is good for doing that for which he is gone. God, who is Lord, grant him success, if it please Him! And our Sienese, who were there, have all come thence, and not one of them dares to stay there.’ (Ibid. p. 41.)

page 215 note 3 See the formalities, and the bond ‘by oath and a penalty of two thousand marks sterling,’ in Arias', G.Studi e documenti di storia del diritto (1902), 114sqGoogle Scholar.; also his Trattati commerciali, I. (1901) pp. 77–80.

page 215 note 4 See ante, p. 210, note 7. By letter of February 11, 1263, Urban IV. commended to Eleanor, Queen of England, Mino Cristofori, Federigo Doni, Andrea Cristofori, Tengo Uguiccioni, and Iacopo Co…, partners in England of Pietro and Andrea Cristofori, Guglielmo, Meo Rinaldi, Federigo, and Stricca Rinaldi, of Siena, who had reconciled themselves with the Holy See. (Paoli, and Piccolomini, , Lettere volgari del secolo XIII. (1871), pp. 104–5.Google Scholar)

page 215 note 5 On February 12, 1268, Clement IV. (Regesta i. 193 in Mon. Germ. Hist., Epist. Sec. XIII. iii. (1894) 693) informs the universitas Cuelforum Senensium that he has excommunicated the Ghibellines of Siena—with power to seize their persons and goods in England, France, and elsewhere, on account of their support of Conradino against Charles of Anjou. Similar documents recur down to the time of Gregory X., e.g. June 2, 1272, in Reg. Greg. X. 60 b.

page 216 note 1 Paradiso, xix. 118–19.

page 217 note 1 Paradise, xvi. 25.

page 217 note 2 Ibid. 49, 50.

page 217 note 3 Inferno, xvii. 72–3.

page 218 note 1 Now published in full up to 1232, and in Calendar 1272 onward. There is also a very bare MS. Calendar for the whole reign of Henry III. in the P. R. O.

page 218 note 2 Now published in full up to 1231, and in Calendar from 1272 to 1288.

page 218 note 3 Printed from 2–5 John. In MS., with considerable breaks, from 1226 to 1263, and thenceforward practically continuous.

page 218 note 4 These commence April 30, 1226, and are much less perfect than the Chancery Rolls. The last complete entry is dated October 16, 1305 (No. 85). The earliest enrolment of such writs is on the dorse of Receipt Roll (Pells) No. 2a for Easter term 1220. Those for Easter terms 1221, 1222, and 1224 are endorsed on Receipt Rolls (Auditors) Nos. 1, 13, and 3 respectively. None of these are enrolled in the Chancery series.

page 218 note 5 It is to be noted that the Memoranda (being of the nature of drafts) have been carelessly kept. The total number is now comparatively small.

page 218 note 6 See, e.g., MrRound's, note to the charter of William of Tottenham in Ancient Charters of the Twelfth Century (Pipe Roll Soc), p. 82Google Scholar.

page 219 note 1 Some of which are entered on the Pipe Roll (see List of Foreign Accounts), and others are preserved among the accounts of the King's Remembrancer, and listed under the heading ‘Foreign Merchants.’

page 219 note 2 The Receipt Roll (Pells) No. 87 includes ‘Receipts from moneys advanced to the king, as well of moneys arising from the scrutiny made throughout England, as of moneys received from divers merchants of advance granted to the king,’ amounting in the whole to 14,715 l. 4 s. 10 d., ‘beside the old money.’ Italian merchants gave no less than 14,312 l. of this sum.

Similar ‘advances’ from the Ammanati of Pistoia (who had not contributed in the previous year) were received on August 30 (300 l.) and September 5 (200 l.) in 1295; on October 19, 1295, four societies who had already made advances gave an additional 500 marks each; and the ‘advance made to the king,’ February 13, 1297, includes 2,972 l. (out of a total of 6,000 l.) from Italian merchants.

page 219 note 3 Memoranda Roll (K.R.), Easter, 26 Edw. I., membs. 99–101, printed in parts by Stevenson, J. in Documents illustrating the History of Scotland (1870), ii. 278Google Scholar, and by Bond, in Archœologia, xxviii. 284–290Google Scholar. See above, p, 186, note 2. ‘Afterwards, the aforesaid debts having been recited before the king and his council at St. Albans, the king, by the assent and will of the merchants of the societies aforesaid, granted and assigned, for himself and his heirs to the merchants and their partners, all issues arising from the custom of wools, &c., in all parts of England to be received until they have satisfaction of the debts aforesaid.’

Villano Stoldi (father of the historian Giovanni Villani) was given the charge of the customs of Bristol and Ipswich on behalf of the society of the Cerchi Neri, with whom he was then a partner.

page 220 note 1 Accounts, &c., Exch. (K. R.), bundle 351, No. 4.

page 220 note 2 Rot. Wallice, 10 Edw. I. m. 9.

page 220 note 3 Ibid. m. 5.

page 220 note 4 Rot. Wallia, 11 Edw. I. m. I.

page 220 note 5 It works out at 71 l. 8 s. 7 d. per cent.; the rate of the Jews in 1179 had been only 43 l. 6 s. 8 d.per cent.

page 220 note 6 See Law Quarterly Review, xix. 6–8, and Close Roll 19 Edw. I. 9d., 8d.

page 221 note 1 A late instance is in Regesta, xxii. 254 d, when Innocent IV. granted to John and Alexander, brethren and proctors of the Order of Sempringham, faculty to contract a loan of 1,000 l. to meet their expenses incurred at the apostolic see (March 18, 1353, in Bliss, Cat. Papal Lett. p. 284).

page 221 note 2 See Schneider, G., Die finanziellen Beziehungen der florentinischen Bankiers zur Kirche (1889), ch. vGoogle Scholar.

page 222 note 1 Ep. clviii. in Migne, , Patrol. Lot. ccviii. 453Google Scholar.

page 222 note 2 As Roger was fighting the battle of the papacy even more than his own, the loans were doubtless raised on the guarantee of the Curia. An abbot elect whose right even to the spirituals of his abbacy was disputed could not offer a security over the temporals satisfactory to any prudent money-lender. There seems to be no reference to expenses of this sort in the Chronicle of St. Augustine's or in the Epp. Cantuar. that deal with the contest and subsequent events. Richard was ardently interested on the archbishop's side, and was even reported ready to renounce his allegiance to the pope if his wishes were not complied with; and if there had been any chance of claims being made upon lands or persons within his realm, he would not have failed to throw a most effective obstacle in Roger's path by a denunciation such as his brother issued in the case of the abbot of Séez:—

‘Dilectis suis Romae Tusciae Italise mercatoribus. Denunciamus vobis ne Priori de Sagien’ et sociis suis aliquam pecuniam credatis super litteras capituli sui. Ille enim et quidam complices sui contra nos et dignitatem nostram laborant. Sciatis enim, quod si quam pecuniam illis crederitis de pecunia terrse nostrse non reddetur.' March 30, 1202, in Pat. Roll 3 John m. 3, in Rot. Lift. Pat. (1835) 8.

See a similar letter of Henry III. as to Benedict of Winchester in 1242, Rôles Gascons, No. 1207.

page 222 note 3 ‘Ad nativse rationis arguments me contuli, fecique sine promissione aliqua, sine donorum aliquorum impendio, quod benedictio elongata est ab eo.’ (Ep. clviii.)

page 222 note 4 He seems to have acquired the habit of expecting his friends to become re-sponsible for his debts: see his letter (Ep. clvi.) to Geoffrey Ridel, bishop of Ely. ‘Drawn by most urgent necessity, I go to Canterbury to be crucified by perfidious Jews, who torture and afflict me on the grievous gibbet of debtors. The same cross I expect in London unless in mercy you deliver me from it—you with whom is mercy and plenteous redemption. Take away, father and dearest friend, this cross from me, and take upon yourself six pounds, which I owe to Sampson the Jew.’

page 223 note 1 Decret. Greg. IX. lib. iii. tit. xxii. ‘De fidejuss.’ cap. iii. in Corpus Jur. Cantn. (ed. Friedberg, 1881) II. 530 = Jaffé 9576.

page 223 note 2 In Jaffé, No. 9427. The conclusion of the letter is in lib. ii. tit. vii. ‘De juramento calumnise,’ c.v.— C.J.C. (1881), II. 267.

page 223 note 3 Elias had promised payment ‘on his faith,’ and Philip on his oath.

page 224 note 1 Bond of August 25, 1199, for 1417 l. 6 s. S d. in favour of Sperone Bagorotoni and his partners of Piacenza, in respect of loan to William of Anjou, Robert de Shrewsbury bishop of Bangor, and Stephen de Ridel, in the business of Otho, king of the Romans at the request of Richard I.— Charter Roll, 1 John, 21 d. By a writ dated at Rouen, July 3, 1203 (Liberate Roll, 5 John, m. 11; ed. 1844, p. 146), the kine ordered Geoffrey Fitz Peter and his companions to pay out of the first moneys which should reach the exchequer, or out of any money actually there, 200 l. to Hubert Walters, archbishop of Canterbury, to be repaid by him to merchants of Piacenza, from whom he had borrowed it in behalf of King Otho.

page 225 note 2 Bond of June 5, 1200, for 666 l. 13S. 4d. in favour of Sperone Bagorotoni, Isam-berto Selvaggi, and Gerardo degli Spaudi of Piacenza: see p. 194.

page 225 note 3 See also the letters of Ralph, vicomte ofSainte-Susanne, and William de Rupibus, at the same reference.

page 225 note 4 This authority is addressed to Cardinal S. de Fossa Nova, cardinal of the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles, asking his good offices to procure the loan.

page 231 note 1 Exchequer of Receipt, Warrants for Issues, Bundle l b. The writ is printed (with an omission) by Bond in Archœologia, xxviii. 291, No. cix.

page 231 note 2 The Chancery enrolment (Liberate Roll, 28 Edw. I. m. 4) adds that the writ was issued ‘by the king on the information of John de Drokenesford.’

page 232 note 1 At this point the dorse of the writ is filled. What follows is on a slip of parchment stitched to it.

page 232 note 2 As a further illustration of the labour involved in thirteenth-century accountancy, it seems worth while to print the entries in the rolls of the Exchequer of Receipt relating to this transaction. These are both dated December 2, and run as follows:

‘Coppe Joseph' Coppe Cottenn' et Taldo Janiani mercatoribus de societate Friscobaldorum de Florencia super breve suum de liberate continens M. ccc. lxxxvij. li. xij. s. cujus data est apud Pontem fractum viij die Junii anno regni regis Edwardi xxviij, c. lxxj. li. xiv. s. j. d. ob. Liberati eisdem secundo die Decembris per manus dicti Coppe Cottenn'. Unde littera ejusdem remanet penes Cameram recepcionem dictorum denariorum testificans. In j. tallia facta Ricardo Oysel Ballivo de Holdernesse de exitibus ballivios per preceptum P[hilippi] de Wyllughby tenentis locum Thesaurarii nuncio W. de Brithull'.’

Issue Roll (Pells) Mich. 31 & 32 Edw. I.