History
From 1316 to 1342, the Avignon popes relied on the exchange services of three large Florentine banking houses—the Bardi, Peruzzi, and Acciaioli—all of whom failed in 1342, bringing down the entire papal transfer system with them.
From 1342 to 1362, the Apostolic Camera was required to use the services of several smaller and weaker firms from Asti (especially Malabayla), Lucca, and Pistoia; the Camera was unsuccessful in trying to build up the capacity of each of these bankers.
However, in 1362, the papacy was able to employ the services of the Alberti antichi banking house in Florence, which had recently risen to prominence. The papacy did not use the mechanism of the bill of exchange (which had been common since the 13th century), but rather employed a unique procedure which required a receipt in notarial form for all transfers to Avignon called the instrumentum cambii; this instrument—always made out in duplicate or triplicate—specified the amount received by the banker and proxy and recorded a promise to transmit to Avignon and pay to the pope or his agent a certain amount. One copy of the instrument was sent to Avignon by the papal carrier which enabled the Avignon administration to obtain payment from either the banker or their Avignon representative. The use of written documents was considered "not businesslike" by contemporaries as it required the constant "intervention of notaries".
The instrumentum cambii (also known as an "Avisa") did not eliminate the possibility of fraud, but rather created different possibilities for misdealings, as seen with a 1359 exchange between Venice and Avignon.
The Avignon branch of the Medici bank was not established until 1446, the same year as the London branch.
Read more about this topic: Avignon Exchange
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