A Merchant and Salvation: Francesco Datini

Abstract

The development of trade and commerce in medieval Italy inevitably brought about conflict between lay and ecclesiastic values. Dante's condemnation of nuova gente and his nostalgia for the days when women led an industrious and more secluded life within the household, are of course a well-known example of resistance to an evolving society in which new values were making their way against established church teaching. At the very basis of commerce was the necessary practice of applying interest rates to loans, which continued to attract condemnation from preachers long after Dante felt the need to explain how it infringed biblical and natural law. In fact there were several ways in which one might be judged to be guilty of usury, including the acceptance of deferred payments. It was a suspicion which fell upon the subject of this paper, Francesco Datini, when he initiated a foray into banking, cut short, in 1400, by the death of his partner from the plague.