Chapter 3006 The ghost in the distance (11)

Hermes is the god of commerce in ancient Greece and the messenger of the gods. Legend has it that he has a pair of sandals that can fly and can fly around as quickly as thoughts.

People did not travel long distances in the Middle Ages, not only because of poor transportation and infrastructure, but also because of bandits. For this reason, people usually go together, especially on pilgrimage or religious festivals, festival celebrations and so on. After the mass was over, people would hang out near the church, so there was a market, which gradually turned into a regular trade fair, and with the development of the city and the prosperity of commerce, some large-scale businesses gradually appeared. trade fair.

The Champagne Fair was only a farmers' market in the early 12th century. It is located in northeastern France, bordering Germany to the east, Flanders to the north, and at the "crossroads" of the two passages between the Netherlands and Italy, and France and Germany. , Oriental goods from Italy and goods from Northern Europe are gathered here, so it has become one of the commercial centers of Europe.

It used to be the territory of the Earl of Champagne, and the prosperity of business would inevitably attract robbers to spy on. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of business travelers in the market, the Earl of Champagne took part of the market tax paid by the merchants to train soldiers. The campaign was led by the Earl of Champagne.

Around 1278, the Italian fleet arrived in Bruges along the old trade route, bypassing the Champagne Fair, but it was not until a century later that the fixed route between Genoa and Venice was opened.

Both the Flanders War in 1302 and the Hundred Years' War that began in 1337 had an impact on the decline of the Champagne Fair, but the more far-reaching impact was the king's control of the Champagne Fair. After the United Pope "dissolved" the Knights Templar, the "beautiful man" Philip IV forced the Earl of Champagne to collect taxes according to his standards, and not only merchants had to pay taxes, but even buyers had to pay taxes. As a result of the outbreak of the Flemish War, all Flemish merchants were arrested and their wares were confiscated and sold.

The advantage of the money order is that it can "fly" in the air. At that time, the champagne market was doing wholesale business, and the money order and credit had already been produced at that time. At that time, it was the Genoese who controlled the champagne market. They established a trading system based on gold, silver, spices and medicines in the market. The gold was all West African gold dust. At the same time, after Venice undertook the transportation business of the Fourth Eastern Expedition, the Republic received a large amount of silver. In addition to forming the navy, part of it was used to make Grosso. It was once in the trade market except Champagne. is very popular.

Later, inspired by the Genoese, they also began to make gold coins, but their money had to go around for a while, and was transported from Timbuktu to Tunisia like Genoa's gold coins, and then shipped to Genoa or Palermo.

Issuing a bill of exchange is actually sending a sum of money from one commercial port to another to the location of the trade fair. Sometimes the exchange and the trade fair are not in the same country, and the trade fair boss does not need to come in person, as long as he sends it to a trustworthy agent. Commodity exchange can also be completed.

For example, merchant a buys a bill of exchange cashed in Florence from a wool merchant. The wool will still be shipped to Florence, and the bill will be cashed after a while. The wool merchant sells the draft to merchant a and immediately gets his money. Wool payment, although the actual number of gold coins received is not as much as the face value. And the merchant a who got the wool bill used it to buy a new money order cashed in Bruges. If the money order in Florence is changed in 3 months, then the new money order in Bruges needs to be changed in 6 months. Its actual payment amount is lower than that of Florence. The merchant a does not need to carry the wool, but can earn the difference by loading and unloading it.

But one day, the King of France suddenly announced to freeze Flanders' bills of exchange, regardless of how long he would freeze them, or what he would do with them. Anyway, the 6-month Bruges wool in the hands of businessman A The bills of exchange could not continue to circulate unless he could persuade the king to unfreeze them within half a year of the due date, and then rush to Bruges to exchange them for gold coins before the bills expired.

There was no such thing in the first place. Merchant A could use this Bruges money order to buy other money orders, or find a trustworthy person to go to Bruges to withdraw money, but now he has to go there himself.

Philip IV not only "dissolved" the Knights Templar, but also kidnapped the pope and sent him to Avignon. After the old pope died, he even formed a Holy See by himself. Can't succeed only God knows.

However, Philip IV died in November 1314, and his successor was Louis X, who could theoretically change the way his predecessor ruled.

In fact, Louis X collected taxes not only for sellers, but also for buyers. So from 1315, merchants who felt unprofitable stopped going to the champagne market and went to Bru On the 1st, the wool speculation business began.

From then on, the trade fair and the exchange were all in one city, including the rise of Amsterdam and London. After the decline of the Champagne market, due to factors such as the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, and the Italian financial crisis, the economy did not recover until 1380. Bruges has also become a northern commercial city integrating trade fairs and exchanges.

There is a certain gap between the amount of the draft and the actual amount paid, and this bill is used for circulation. It may be exchanged, exchanged, and returned to the original owner. Therefore, every three months, the transaction will be "reversed". , to restore the order of excessive expansion and chaos.

Although the Florentines had a deficit in buying Spanish wool, the wool could be made into wool and blankets and sold. When the Holy Roman Emperor ascended the throne, he bought all items for coronation from them, although he only bought cotton cloth in Florence for a day. .

In 1378, an uprising of wool-thickening workers broke out in Florence. In the same year, Pope Gregory moved back to Rome from Avignon. At that time, France was at a disadvantage in the Hundred Years War.

According to Machiavelli's records, the riot was finally quelled by a carder named Michele de Lando. A commoner with a surname and a "de" in his name is rare. If a The second son of a nobleman, he didn't inherit everything from his father, and he didn't join the army or enter a monastery, so where else could he go?

At this time, the Medici family had not yet become the rulers of Florence, and even encountered many twists and turns in becoming the "Rider of Justice".

All in all, after the discovery of silver mines in South America, the Florentines entered the card table blocked by the Castilians and Genoese, and became the bankers of the Spanish royal family, and the Genoese had to find another way to get back their "cake".

What Philip II wanted was money. Although the alchemists did not produce the Philosopher's Stone, they improved the process of purifying gold and silver and increased the production of gold and silver.

After Genoa rose again, they tried to reproduce the old days where the exchange and the fair were separated, but they moved the fair to Piacenza, not far from Genoa, but this structure did not spread.

In fact, if foreign bankers were willing to stay, they would not have left immediately after precious metals could be exported in 1566, and Castile would not have been so depressed.

"Lando" means "sir" in Italian, and it is also possible that Michele took the surname himself.

Even a carder wants to be "Mr." Let alone those financiers.

Pomona sighed as she read the Daily Prophet's article on Malfoy, then went to see how the mutton in her pot was doing.