Precursor to the 1320s Florentine Banking Crisis

Timeline

1. 1322–1325Florence · TuscanyBanks such as the Bardi and Peruzzi accelerated the establishment of branches in London, Bruges, Avignon, and Naples in the early 1320s, with wool trade finance and papal fiscal agency as core businesses, and their assets expanded rapidly.
2. 1325–1328Avignon · ProvenceFlorentine banks provided massive loans for war and court expenses to Edward III of England, Robert of Naples, and the Avignon papacy. In the mid-to-late 1320s, individual loan sizes repeatedly hit new records, with banks pledging future trade revenues and territorial taxes, continually expanding their risk exposure.
3. 1328–1330Florence · TuscanyBy the late 1320s, some overseas branches began experiencing delayed repayments, and Florentine bankers started tightening credit to smaller merchants and raising interest rates on royal loans. The industry still maintained an outward prosperity, but had internally accumulated vulnerability to the systemic crisis of the 1340s.