Lombard banking
Lombard banking refers to the business of Italian moneylenders generally referred to as "Lombards", even though many originated from Northern and Central Italian regions other than Lombardy. The term was often used in a derogatory sense, as Lombard banking was associated with the sin of usury.
History
Lombard lenders became active throughout Western Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, emigrating from major merchant centers in Tuscany such as Florence, Lucca and Siena,[1]: 63 and in Northern Italy such as Milan or Genoa but also from smaller cities such as Asti in Piedmont.[2]: 134 They often displaced the French Cahorsins, even though there is much confusion in documentary sources between the two communities. In some regional contexts, the two words "Lombard" and "Cahorsin" were used interchangeably until the latter gradually fell into disuse from the 14th century.[1][3]
A Catholic prohibition on profit from money without working made most forms of lending sinful.
The prominent position of the Lombards in Christian finance eroded with the
Legacy
In modern
Modern financial firm names that refer to Lombard banking include Lombard North Central and TS Lombard in the UK as well as Lombard Bank in Malta.
Numerous European cities still have a street named Lombard Street after the Lombard bankers who once resided there, as do several American port cities. These include rue des Lombards in Paris; Lombard Street, London; Lombard Street (San Francisco); Lombard Street (Baltimore); and similarly named streets in other cities including Aachen, Amiens, Antwerp, Bergen op Zoom, Boston, Châlons-en-Champagne, Compiègne, Dublin, Évreux, New Orleans, Nîmes, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, Portsmouth, and Toronto.
In Dutch, the name for a pawn shop is still lommerd. In Ukrainian, Polish and Russian, a pawn shop is similarly called lombard.
See also
References
- ^ a b Yves Renouard (1961), "Les Cahorsins, hommes d'affaires Français du XIIIe siècle", Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 11: 43–67
- ^ Jacques Le Goff (2010). Le Moyen Âge et l'argent. Paris: Perrin.
- ^ Philippe Wolff (1950), "Le problème des Cahorsins", Annales du Midi, 62:11: 229–238
- ^ John H. Munro, "The Medieval Origins of Financial Revolution: Usury, Rentes, and Negotioability" (The International History Review, 25:3 (2003), 505-562 (514).