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The Scali were one of the three leading Florentine banking families in the Middle Ages. Alongside their competitors (Bardi and Peruzzi), they grew from local cloth traders and deposit bankers to international financiers during the 13th century. By the beginning of the 14th century, the Scalis had become the mightiest commercial house in Italy.〔Fryde (1996) p.108.〕 In 1326, they abruptly went bankrupt and the company disappeared. ==The rise of the house of Scali== The Scali or Scala company had been created in the early years of the 13th century and quickly rose to an important position (one member of the family became consul in 1215). They were members the anti-imperial Guelph movement and in 1248 purged their house of its Ghibelline supporters. Their ''loggia'' was located close to the Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni). Even though they were initially involved in textile production and trade, they eventually achieved continental preeminence in the fields of finance and banking. Like many Italian banks of the time, the Scali specialized in public finance. They lent capital to the kings and princes of Western Europe and often benefited from the farming out of the sovereigns' tax collection. In France for instance, agents of the Scali bank became ''seneschal'' of Toulouse and Beaucaire in the 1310s and 1320s.〔 (J. Viard (1917) "Les journaux du trésor de Charles IV le Bel", Paris ).〕 The Scalis were also involved in private finance, in England they counted some of the leading characters of the kingdom as their clients. Tellingly, in 1328, during the trial following the bankruptcy in England, it emerged that the Scalis were in business with no less than four English cardinals.〔E. B. Fryde (1951) The Deposits of Hugh Despenser the Younger with Italian Bankers. ''The Economic History Review'', N.S., 3/3: 344–362〕 As many other Italian banks, the Scalis were also involved in the finances of the pope. The Scali bank created a continental network organized in branches and employed agents in the most important centers of Western Europe. Besides Florence, they seem to have been active in Genoa, England, Avignon, Milan, Bordeaux, France and Rome, but it is not impossible that they were active in other locations such as the Flanders and Spain. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Scali (bank)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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