Bardi family

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bardi
Country Republic of Florence
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
 Papal States
Place of originTuscany, Italy
Founded10th century
Final rulerPier Maria de' Bardi
TitlesCount of Vernio
Dissolution1810

The House of Bardi was an influential

banking company Compagnia dei Bardi
. In the 14th century the Bardis lent
America including those by Christopher Columbus and John Cabot.[1]

History

Palazzo Busini Bardi, Florence

The nobility of the Bardi family has been documented since the year 1164, when Emperor

Mugello. During the fourteenth century the Bardi family became so powerful that the Florentine government considered them a threat. They eventually were forced to sell their castle to Florence because "fortified castles near the city were seen as a danger to the republic.".[2]

In the 1290s, the Bardi and Peruzzi families had established branches in England and were the main European bankers by the 1320s. By the fourteenth century the Bardi and the Peruzzi family grew tremendously wealthy by offering financial services.[3] These two families facilitated trade by providing the merchants with bills of exchange, known today as checks. What made it so simple was that money paid by a debtor in one town could be paid out to creditor just by presenting the bill in another town.[4][3] By 1338, there were more than eighty banking houses in Florence.

Marseilles, in London, Bruges, Constantinople, Rhodes, Cyprus and Jerusalem.[4] Some of Europe's most powerful rulers were indebted to the Bardi family. This was one of the main reasons of the bankers' downfall.[4]

During the

bankrupt.[4]

Despite the failure of the bank, the Bardi family ranked among

knights.[2] The marriage of Contessina de' Bardi to Cosimo de' Medici around 1415 was a key factor in establishing the House of Medici in power in Florence.[5] Cosimo rewarded the Bardi family for their support, restoring their political rights upon his ascent in 1434.[6] In 1444, he exempted them from paying particular taxes.[6]

Besides banking, the Bardi family were "great patrons of the friars."

canonized in 1317, was very close to the Bardi family. They purchased the chapel that was dedicated to St. Francis. To the right of the altar they built a new, larger chapel and dedicated it to Louise of Toulouse.[7] The Bardi chapel that was dedicated to St. Francis was founded by Ridolfo de Bardi around 1310, the year that his father died and left him with a large inheritance and in charge of the Bardi company. There were other Bardi chapels, such as the one dedicated to St. Lawrence and the Martyrs, and St. Silvestor and the Confessors.[7]

Two important paintings, both called the

Palazzo Busini Bardi
.

See also

References

  1. ^ Guidi-Bruscoli 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Pernis & Schneider Adams 2006, pp. 10–11.
  3. ^ a b c Banking in the Middle Ages.
  4. ^ a b c d History of Banking.
  5. ^ Tomas 2003, p. 16-17.
  6. ^ a b Tomas 2003, p. 17.
  7. ^ a b Cook 2005, p. [page needed].

Bibliography

  • "Banking in the Middle Ages". End of Europe's Middle Ages. Applied History Research Group / University of Calgary. 1997. Archived from the original on 2013-12-25. Retrieved 16 Dec 2013.
  • Cook, William R. (2005). The Art of the Franciscan Order in Italy. Brill Academic Publications.
    ISBN 9789004131675
    .
  • Guidi-Bruscoli, F. (2012). "John Cabot and his Italian financiers*". Historical Research. 85 (229): 372–393.
    doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.2012.00597.x
    .
  • "History of Banking – Religion and Banking: 12th-13th Century". www.historyworld.net.
  • Pernis, Maria Grazia; Schneider Adams, Laurie (2006). Lucrezia Tornabuoni De' Medici and the Medici Family in the Fifteenth Century. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
  • Romaniello, Matthew P. (2008). "Lucrezia Tornabuoni de' Medici and the Medici Family in the Fifteenth Century – by Maria Grazia Pernis and Laurie Schneider Adams". The Historian. 70 (2): 389.
    S2CID 144053996
    .
  • Tomas, Natalie R. (2003). The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence. Aldershot: Ashgate.
    ISBN 0754607771
    .

Further reading
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