Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

by Dan Jones

Italian banks took regular repayments on their loans to England in the form of tax receipts and discounted wool sales, but by the mid-1340s both Edward and his Italian creditors found themselves in deep water. Then a perfect storm hit. In Florence, political and social unrest led to a series of rapid changes in government, in which the Bardi backed the wrong candidate. Meanwhile, wars in Tuscany that they had partly financed also turned out badly. From 1341 the Bardi and Peruzzi were struggling to keep up with the English king’s demand for funds. In 1341 they defaulted on a payment they had agreed to make to Flemish merchants on Edward’s behalf; under the terms of a deal the parties had struck, Edward was forced to hand over his aristocratic friends the earls of Derby and Warwick as hostages to the Flemings.40 It was humiliating for all involved.