The Medici's Banking Influence

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The Medici family was one of the most prevalent influences during the Renaissance. Their two main contributions were patronage to the arts, and especially the banking systems. Banking systems were established before the Medici family came to reign, but they did not have as much advancement. During the early Renaissance, Florence’s economical system was suffering due to different causes like currency, economic security, and many others. The rise of the Medici Bank correlates to the Common Themes Theory well and can be explained through this process. Throughout this period, the Medici family completely reimagined the banking business and became very wealthy because of it.
Florence was the center of Europe back in the Early Renaissance and maintained power for a long time. The general idea of banking had been around since the medieval times, but it wasn’t until Giovanni de’ Medici came around that the whole banking business boomed. During the early Renaissance, Europe was in shambles because of the Black Death that is said to of killed around one-third of Europe’s population. Also, the previous three major banking systems (Bardi, Peruzzi, and the Acciaiuoli) made crucial mistakes to result in the crumbling of the banks for reasons like overextension of credit, and loan issues (Adrien 2). One of the main problems that this proposed is that the new Pope didn’t have a line of credit, because back then the Church was one of the biggest bank supporters, because of the bank decline and he was searching for a bank to do business with. There came along a family that tried supporting the Pope, but eventually dwindled with time because of the separation of power. This is when Giovanni de Medici came along and moved his banking system to Flor...

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...he first to use the double-entry booking system (House of Medici). The Medici family helped sculpt our modern banking systems and most importantly help create such a dramatic Renaissance.

Works Cited

Adrien, De Roover Raymond. The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank: 1397-1494. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1963. Print.
Cunningham, Lawrence S., and John J. Reich. Culture and Values: A Survey of the Western Humanities. 7th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982. Print.
"House of Medici." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
"Pazzi Conspiracy." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
Problem Solution Effect. By Tamera Detrick. Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids. Jan.-Feb. 2014. Performance.

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