Frescobaldi

Frescobaldi, family of medieval bankers who were prominent in Florentine business and politics and who financed the wars of Edward I and II of England.

The Frescobaldi belonged to the wealthy “magnate” class and were important in the public affairs of Florence from the 12th century. In the 1290s the family split into Whites and Blacks, representing Florentine factions that became allied with the Ghibelline (imperial) and Guelf parties. By the early 14th century, only the White (Ghibelline) Frescobaldi remained. The family’s conservatism virtually excluded it from government office from 1285 to 1433.

The Frescobaldi opened a branch in England in the 1270s, and in two decades their firm had risen to the position of royal bankers formerly occupied by the Riccardi company of Lucca, which had been driven into bankruptcy by loans for Edward I’s wars in Wales and France. Between 1302 and 1310, the Frescobaldi loaned £150,000 to Edward I and II. In return they were given virtual control of the revenues of England, including the mint and the customs, and were granted lands, honours, and privileges. In 1310 Edward II’s barons, jealous of the Italians’ power, drew up ordinances forbidding the assignment of customs to foreigners and calling for the arrest of foreign merchants and seizure of their goods. Before the ordinances could be implemented, the Frescobaldi fled to the European continent, taking refuge at Avignon and then at Florence.

The Frescobaldi were active participants in the unsuccessful revolt of Florentine magnates in 1343, and consequently they were excluded from the democratic government when it was reinstated.

The family included several literary figures, among them the poet Dino Frescobaldi (died c. 1316) and Leonardo Frescobaldi, who visited Egypt and the Holy Land in 1384 and left a valuable historical account of the social and economic life of the countries he visited.