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I have a stupid fascination with historical finance in literature myself. I focused on Early Modern Elizabethan literature. Wrote a thesis arguing that Spenser'

I have a stupid fascination with historical finance in literature myself. I focused on Early Modern Elizabethan literature. Wrote a thesis arguing that Spenser's Mammon in Book II of the Faerie Queene was not so much about the familiar allegory of illicit wealth but rather a vitriolic topical attack on the emerging proto-capitalist financial industry in Elizabethan England and the challenge it presented to the traditional landed aristocracy. The earliest bankers were the goldsmiths and that, if you read closely, is how Spenser depicts Mammon. A lot of fun and led me down some interesting rabbit holes on Elizabethan monetary policy, the impact of Henry VIII's Great Debasement, and the role of the Royal Mint as central bank. Left with with a deep appreciation for the stabilizing influence of the Federal Reserve. Anyway, for anyone interested (haha), here's the canto in question: http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/TextRecord.php?action=GET&textsid=83 http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/TextRecord.php?action=GET&tex...

barry-cotter 7y ago
> The earliest bankers were the goldsmiths Not according to Charles Kindleberger’s A Financial History of Western Europe. His explanation for this persistent myth is that some British banks could trace some of their antecedents to goldsmiths and it made decent advertising copy. Thus it gets into books about banking written by non-historians and perpetuates itself. A more common origin for banks was money changers, international traders in commodities and traders in bills of exchange.
- klenwell 7y ago
  Maybe Kindleberger needs to read more Spenser. :) More likely, Spenser himself accepted the common myth. Or perhaps his Mammon was loosely inspired by whoever headed the royal mint at the time. I'll have to pick up that book someday. Thanks.
TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
The prototypical modern bankers were the Fuggers - who were effectively early Europe's Fed, but somehow escaped the attention of contemporary poets.

barry-cotter 7y ago

> The earliest bankers were the goldsmiths Not according to Charles Kindleberger’s A Financial History of Western Europe. His explanation for this persistent myth is that some British banks could trace some of their antecedents to goldsmiths and it made decent advertising copy. Thus it gets into books about banking written by non-historians and perpetuates itself. A more common origin for banks was money changers, international traders in commodities and traders in bills of exchange.

klenwell 7y ago
Maybe Kindleberger needs to read more Spenser. :) More likely, Spenser himself accepted the common myth. Or perhaps his Mammon was loosely inspired by whoever headed the royal mint at the time. I'll have to pick up that book someday. Thanks.

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago

The prototypical modern bankers were the Fuggers - who were effectively early Europe's Fed, but somehow escaped the attention of contemporary poets.