Resumen de 'Multam pecuniam, multa mala': i 'Lombardi' astigiani e il mercato del credito nel Basso Medioevo
Since the 13thcentury, the term “Lombardi” has been used to refer to financialand commercial operators from northern and central Italy. However, Lombard fromthe sub-Alpine area, especially those from Asti and Chieri, progressively specializedin credit activities, which tended to prevail over the commercial activities commonlypracticed by businessmen of other origins, for example from Tuscany or Rome. Inparticular, the Astigiani, supported by the widespread diffusion of their banks activein pawnbroking, during the fourteenth century exercised significant weight in theEuropean economy, both as bankers of popes and sovereigns, and due to the politicaland financial role they played in some of the most economically vibrant areas ofthe continent, such asthe Netherlands, where they maintained their presence untilthe early decades of the seventeenth century. Even if their credit practices did notsubstantially differ from those of other operators, it is precisely the longstanding rootsin credit that is at the origin of an oscillating assessment of subalpine financiers, attimes defined as “viri providi et discreti” for their recognized role in the market, othersas potentially usurious lenders and relegated to a“weak” citizenship. A membershipwhich was “at risk” also for merchants and bankers of different origins, but whichappears even more so in the case of the Lombard, whose prolonged operativeness ismarked by a gradual diminishing of the status, evidenced by a lexicon that underscoresa growing estrangement with respect to the social structure, which on the contrary,the Lombard, polemically labelled “baptized Jews”, were accused of contaminatingbecause of their activities.
