The Medieval Super-Companies: A Study of the Peruzzi Company of Florence

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Overview

This book breaks new ground by focusing on the great Florentine "super-companies" of the early fourteenth century in their own right. The author closely examines the Peruzzi Company in particular, describing its ownership, family connections, scope of business, organization structure, accounting systems, and its history from 1300 to its dissolution in bankruptcy court in 1347. From this analysis, the author offers a radical reassessment of the nature and role of these extraordinary organizations. He establishes ...
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More About This Book

Overview

This book breaks new ground by focusing on the great Florentine "super-companies" of the early fourteenth century in their own right. The author closely examines the Peruzzi Company in particular, describing its ownership, family connections, scope of business, organization structure, accounting systems, and its history from 1300 to its dissolution in bankruptcy court in 1347. From this analysis, the author offers a radical reassessment of the nature and role of these extraordinary organizations. He establishes that although they engaged in all forms of commerce in substantial volume, what made them exceptional was commodity trading, especially in grain, which they conducted on a heroic scale. It was this activity that required heavy capital, sophisticated organization, and an international network. But the author also exposes the limitations of their financial power and explodes the myth that their downfall was caused mainly by bad loans to Edward III to finance his invasions of France. This book is much more than a business history. It presents the operations of these companies in the context of the swiftly moving political, military, and economic developments in Florence, the Mediterranean, and western Europe during a tumultuous period.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780521894159
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • Publication date: 5/9/2002
  • Pages: 304
  • Product dimensions: 5.98 (w) x 8.98 (h) x 0.67 (d)

Table of Contents

List of tables, figures, and map
Introduction 1
Pt. I Anatomy of the medieval super-company
1 The company and the family 11
2 The nature of the business 38
3 The structure of the Peruzzi Company 76
4 The accounting of the Peruzzi Company 101
Pt. II History of the Peruzzi Company from its reorganization in 1300
5 The prosperous years, 1300-1324 127
6 The decline begins, 1325-1335 156
7 The critical years, 1335-1340 184
8 The collapse, 1340-1343 212
9 The aftermath 230
Conclusions 243
App.: I Genealogical charts of the Peruzzi family 252
App.: II Peruzzi Company balances at July 1, 1335 256
App.: III Peruzzi Company and shareholder data 259
App.: IV Exchange rate trends 266
App.: V Giovanni Villani: his background and reliability 268
Bibliography 272
Index 285
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