The Medici are famous as the rulers of Florence at the high point of
the Renaissance. Their power derived from the family bank, and this
book tells the fascinating, frequently bloody story of the family and
the dramatic development and collapse of their bank (from Cosimo who
took it over in 1419 to his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent who
presided over its precipitous decline). The Medici faced two
apparently insuperable problems: how did a banker deal with the fact
that the Church regarded interest as a sin and had made it illegal?
How in a small republic like Florence could he avoid having his wealth
taken away by taxation? But the bank became indispensable to the
Church. And the family completely subverted Florence's claims to being
democratic. They ran the city. Medici Money explores a crucial moment
in the passage from the Middle Ages to the Modern world, a moment when
our own attitudes to money and morals were being formed. To read this
book is to understand how much the Renaissance has to tell us about
our own world. Medici Money is one of the launch titles in a new
series, Atlas Books, edited by James Atlas. Atlas Books pairs fine
writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the
world, in a new genre - the business book as literature.
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781847656872
Publisert
2018
Utgiver
Vendor
Profile Books
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter