<p>A rare accounting document has revealed the activities of Italian bankers in the early 15th century London, decades before the capital became a financial powerhouse.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The half-concealed document beneath a coat of arms design was discovered by economic historians at Queen Mary University of London.<br /><br />Among the pages of a bound collection of traditional English crests held at the London College of Arms, the headquarters of British heraldry, are several papers belonging to a book of debtors and creditors for Florentine merchant-banking company, Domenicio Villani & Partners.<br /><br />The coats of arms are estimated to have been painted in 1480, during a time when good quality paper was scarce and anything that was available was re-used, according to a university statement.<br /><br />The banking records, only half-covered by the design, dated from 1422-24, hint at the extensive trade in wool and other commodities produced in Britain during the era.<br /><br />Francesco Guidi-Bruscoli, who is based at the University of Florence and also a research fellow at Queen Mary, and Jim Bolton, professor at Queen Mary's School of History, have spent more than a decade working on the Borromei Bank Research Project, documenting the activity of Italian merchant bankers operating from London in the late medieval period.<br /><br />Guidi, who was alerted to the Villani ledger's location by Queen Mary historian, Kate Lowe, commented: "What makes the discovery of these pages so surprising is that, usually, the foreign offices of the Florentine companies periodically sent the books back home so they could be checked."<br /><br />"In this case, the books remained in London, where they gradually lost their documentary value and some 55 years later were considered scraps of good quality paper to be re-used for the drawing of coats of arms."<br /><br />By the late Middle Ages, Italian merchants had created far-reaching pan-European networks. Their business involved international trade, exchange by means of written instruments and loans to sovereigns and popes.<br /><br />England's trade in commodities, such as wool and woollen cloth, eventually led to the nation becoming the financial hub of the West, overtaking Italy in status.</p>
<p>A rare accounting document has revealed the activities of Italian bankers in the early 15th century London, decades before the capital became a financial powerhouse.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The half-concealed document beneath a coat of arms design was discovered by economic historians at Queen Mary University of London.<br /><br />Among the pages of a bound collection of traditional English crests held at the London College of Arms, the headquarters of British heraldry, are several papers belonging to a book of debtors and creditors for Florentine merchant-banking company, Domenicio Villani & Partners.<br /><br />The coats of arms are estimated to have been painted in 1480, during a time when good quality paper was scarce and anything that was available was re-used, according to a university statement.<br /><br />The banking records, only half-covered by the design, dated from 1422-24, hint at the extensive trade in wool and other commodities produced in Britain during the era.<br /><br />Francesco Guidi-Bruscoli, who is based at the University of Florence and also a research fellow at Queen Mary, and Jim Bolton, professor at Queen Mary's School of History, have spent more than a decade working on the Borromei Bank Research Project, documenting the activity of Italian merchant bankers operating from London in the late medieval period.<br /><br />Guidi, who was alerted to the Villani ledger's location by Queen Mary historian, Kate Lowe, commented: "What makes the discovery of these pages so surprising is that, usually, the foreign offices of the Florentine companies periodically sent the books back home so they could be checked."<br /><br />"In this case, the books remained in London, where they gradually lost their documentary value and some 55 years later were considered scraps of good quality paper to be re-used for the drawing of coats of arms."<br /><br />By the late Middle Ages, Italian merchants had created far-reaching pan-European networks. Their business involved international trade, exchange by means of written instruments and loans to sovereigns and popes.<br /><br />England's trade in commodities, such as wool and woollen cloth, eventually led to the nation becoming the financial hub of the West, overtaking Italy in status.</p>