Was the Renaissance over glorified
took place in their daily routine. There was money owed to them, trade took place on a regular basis, money was owed to banks and yet they still had to take care of and keep their inventory intact. The role of the banker was mainly as a creditor to kings and merchants, as well as financing wars and exploration (Thompson, ed., 91). They also speculated on currency rates, which is another factor why trade expanded beyond their territory. A Franciscan monk named Fra Luca Pacioli came up with the idea of double entry bookkeeping, which helped the merchants to keep a much more efficient record of their finances (deSantis, web page). This set up the basics for a simple accounting system. It wasn’t that the idea of accounting that was new, but before hand all transactions used to be kept track of in dairies and other little notebooks. Roman numerals were used, which made it much more complex. The new system allowed money to be allocated easily to people i.e. whoever owed or needed to collect money. However during the Renaissance, with the vast amount of trade that took place the continuous flow of money was non-stop, so a control over money had to take form. The banks helped to do this. This is how the Medici’s created their abundance of wealth. Families came together throughout Italy lived close to each other each other so they were able to support one another for protection, increased security and so they could assist each other with business. Though the feudal system embarked on a severe dent in its structure, a lot of the wealth and power moved from the nobility to these economically strong families. The Medici’s were by far the strongest of the families, which came together in Italy. Their influence they had in and outside of the business world was phenomenal. It was Giovanni di Bicci de Medici who was the first of the Medici’s who entered the banking industry in a significant way, and his son Cosimo who took over the family business in 1429 became the most powerful Medici (Mee, 33). He had the wealth and more than enough power to be a king. The family contributed to the banking industry in a distinguishable way. The simple economy which in the Middle Ages was mainly agriculturally based and relied heavily upon the labour of the artisans and peasants had transformed into a much more developed system in the Renaissance which opened up new careers and opportunities for the average middle class. As more and more wealth came to Italy, merchants found more efficient ways to operate their activities and constructive ways to spend their money.
Once the accumulating profits started to come in to Italy through business and trade, Italy invested largely in to culture. Many people spent their wealth on the arts such as painting and sculpting. This is a time when the works of such artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo became very popular and [next page]