The Architecture of Banking in Renaissance Italy
Constructing the Spaces of Money

Probes historical relationships between banks and religious beliefs, exploring urban geographies and architectural forms that reveal moral attitudes toward money during the early onset of capitalism.

Lauren Jacobi (Author)

9781108483223, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 August 2019

252 pages, 87 b/w illus.
26.1 x 18.4 x 1.8 cm, 0.74 kg

Over the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, European society confronted rapid monetization, a process that has been examined in depth by economic historians. Less well understood is the development of architecture to meet the needs of a burgeoning mercantile economy in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. In this volume, Lauren Jacobi explores some of the repercussions of early capitalism through a study of the location and types of spaces that were used for banking and minting in Florence and other mercantile centers in Europe. Examining the historical relationships between banks and religious behavior, she also analyzes how urban geographies and architectural forms reveal moral attitudes toward money during the onset of capitalism. Jacobi's book offers new insights into the spaces and locations where pre-industrial European banking and minting transpired, as well as the impact of religious concerns and financial tools on those sites.

1. Networked agglomerations
2. The technology of money, architecture and the public good
3. Across economic geographies: trade sites beyond the peninsula
4. The transcendental economy.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Medieval history [HBLC1], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD], History of architecture [AMX], Renaissance art [ACND], History of art & design styles: c 1400 to c 1600 [ACN], History of art: Byzantine & Medieval art c 500 CE to c 1400 [ACK]