Italian Renaissance Banking

About Italian Renaissance Banking

Italian banking houses of the 14th and 15th centuries invented modern banking. The Medicis, Peruzzis, and Bardiis developed double entry bookkeeping, bills of exchange, and international branch networks. The Bardi and Peruzzi banks collapsed in the 1340s after King Edward III of England defaulted on loans financing the Hundred Years War. The Medici Bank, founded in 1397, became the most respected bank in Europe. The Medici Bank declined after the death of Lorenzo de Medici in 1492. Italian banking innovations spread to Northern Europe through the Fugger and Welser families of Augsburg. Double entry bookkeeping, first documented by Luca Pacioli in 1494, was developed by Italian bankers.