Medici Money: Banking, metaphysics and art in fifteenth-century Florence

The Medici bill of exchange: the ninety-day gap between Florence and London that let interest exist without being called interest. A merchant took florins from a Medici office in Florence on the fifteenth of June. Custom set repayment in London, in sterling, for the thirteenth of September. The parties could settle earlier if they wanted. They could not settle later. Ninety days was roughly the…