Reviewed by Norlin G. Rueschhoff University of Notre Dame
This book, printed in German, is the second volume of a two-volume series. The first volume was originally published by Sieve-king in 1898, titled Genueser Finanzwesen vol. 12. bis 14. Jahr-hundert, and reprinted by Nihon Shoseki, Ltd., Osaka, Japan, in 1973. The second volume has three chapters covering the time periods 1407-1444, 1447-1561, and 1586-1815. The two volumes thus cover the history of Genovese finance over a period of eight centuries.
The first chapter of the second volume deals with the establishment of the Casa di S. Giorgio in Genoa, Italy during the first era of its banking business, 1407-1444. The Casa di S. Giorgio, that is, the Bank of St. George, hereinafter referred to as the Casa, received its foundations in 1407 as a central underwriting agent to consolidate various financial paper issues of eight companies and state agencies. The final payment of the refunding bonds was projected through a sinking fund accumulated through tax revenues. Tax revenues in those days were derived through property taxes, customs duties at port of entry, and poll taxes.
The Casa provided an invaluable service for the people of Genoa. In a sense the Casa was an excellent manager in trying to protect the bond investments of the citizens. When opened on March 2, 1408, the Casa also maintained checking accounts for the taxing agencies as well as the public. Thus, it was a central collection agency for taxes which were used to pay off the loans for the local governments. Its books were kept in Roman numerals. All transactions were written in one bank book. For example, a thousand page bank book in 1414 was completely full by the end of June and required two such bank books for that year. By 1418 three bank books were necessary to record the bank’s transactions. In 1439, a branch bank was opened with a bookkeeper and a cashier and a half year later a third branch was opened. In 1444 the banks’ connection with the state treasurer put the bank in a difficult position. Because the tax collections were slow, timely interest payments were critical, And when the interest payments could no longer be made on time and with the bank’s connection to the state government, the bank was liquidated. Thus ended one of the banking periods.
The Casa’s life from 1447 to 1562 is covered in the second chapter. An important event for the Casa during this period was the acquisition of its main building, a palace, in 1451. In this building the Casa was re-established. Again its need as an underwriting agent in the consolidation of various financial paper issues gave reason for its being. In 1464 eight auditors were appointed to help with the activities of the Casa. When the bank was again reorganized in 1447, Genoa was under the control of Cyprus. The Casa was instrumental in financing of grain trade with Cyprus. With the establishment of a colony in Corsica, the Casa was also instrumental in providing a development loan. During this era, the key purpose of the Casa was to be a depositing agent for tax revenues. The most important tax during the time was still the direct property tax, with about two thirds of the revenue coming from this tax and another third from poll taxes. The tax burden was heavy because of the many unfortunate battles around Genoa. Moreover, the Casa was involved in the support of Genoa’s great son, Christopher Columbus.
The third chapter deals with the second period of banking for the Casa from 1586-1815. In 1597 Genoa had a population of 60,529 and by 1801 grew to 86,063. During this era, the Casa was involved with transactions of the state treasurer, the public utilities, and the colonial companies. After the end of the sixteenth century, the Genoa government shifted to the use of indirect taxes, such as a 1% sales tax. Furthermore, tax incentives were used to attract industry to Genoa and some tax revenues were raised through customs duty on grain exports. The state of Genoa opened up its own state bakery, and monopolies were established for salt, grain, and even meat. These monopolies in the seventeenth century caused an uneven distribution of resources and special offices to aid the poor were established. Because the state government debt grew rapidly, the maturity dates of the bond issues and later even the interest payments were postponed. A depression in 1646 meant a crisis for the Casa. However, in the plague of 1656 the Casa made considerable amounts of windfall profits because of unclaimed deposits of deceased deposit holders. The Casa survived through economic depressions and political turmoil; it became so respected that the Bank of England was established using the Casa as a model. As the government frequently changed hands, the Casa always stood as a sound financial institution, a non-partisan, respected institution. However, when Genoa came under Napoleon’s France, the French decided to liquidate the bank. The long established directors of the Casa tried to convince the French to continue the Casa as an independent institution. In vain, and in May, 1817, the liquidation was completed.
Certainly this book is an interesting commentary on finance, particularly public finance as centered in the bank of Genoa. The reading of the book is not simple, because of the use of many mediaeval German terms, and a considerable amount of interspersing with Latin and Italian terminology. On the other hand, it becomes apparent that Sieveking is truly a scholar, having an excellent writing ability in German, a rather fluent capability in Italian, a working knowledge of Latin, and a very insightful expertise in public finance. However, there is little information on mediaeval accounting in this treatise. Thus, for the accountant, who has a reading knowledge in German, this book serves as a good source for a background on the history of finance during the times that double entry bookkeeping originated. For the researcher interested in the accounting and tax procedural aspects of finance in Genoa, Seive-king has written another book which has also been reprinted recently. The book is: Aus Genueser Rechnungs- und Steuerbuchern.
Ein Beitrag zur mittelalterlichen Handels- und Vermoegensstatistik, published in Vienna in 1909 and reprinted by Nihon Shoseki Limited, Osaka, Japan in 1974. The book is a documentary with many excerpts from accounting and tax records. The book’s six chapters cover, in order, financial records in the fourteenth century, the accounting records of the Casa di S. Giorgio, tax revenue sources in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, calculation of property tax valuations in Genoa, and a comparison with property valuations in Florence and Pisa. As a documentary, the book attempts to make no analysis of the theory or practice of the times. Nevertheless, this book does fill a gap for the accountant, the gap concerning accounting as mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
