The Marconi, the Lippomani, the Lehman, the next
The banking system in Venice collapsed in 1500. The meltdown was chronicled by the blogger diarist Marin Sanudo the Younger and recounted, 400 years later in the delightful "Old Venetian Palaces and Old Venetian Folk" by Thomas Okey. Wonder if the enforcers of the ECB will be more prudent when doling out the hot tart to the PIGS in the coming weeks than the stout fellows of the Doge were to their charges in 1501? Money, in every sense, quote:
"In March 1500 the Marconi, good and worthy citizens, failed, and the creditors of the Garzoni were called publicly to assemble at the church of S. Zuan di Rialto to elect a committee of inspection; in April the creditors of the Lippomani met in the same sacred edifice and agreed to accept a promise to pay in instalments. Merchants' promises are easier made than kept, and the defaulting Lippomani were subsequently laid in jail. They were influential citizens, and their imprisonment was made less irksome by many favours, it being rumoured that the Avogadori told the Captain of the Watch that even if their wives and children came twenty times a day they must be allowed to enter. It soon became customary to open the door when their dinners were sent, and on September 8, 1501, three stout fellows came with the meal, which included hot tart, and the door being opened to him who carried the tart,Hieronimo Lippomani rushed forth, flung a coat over the warder's head, and, putting a knife to his throat, secured the keys. Setting free his brothers, Sier Bartolo and Sier Vettor, all three escaped in their jackets and bareheaded into three armed boats, and took refuge at the monastery of Sta. Elena. Thence they mocked at their creditors, who, after much negotiation, to the number of 600, held a stormy meeting at S. Zuan di Rialto on March 21, 1502, to consider a further offer to pay in two years. Angry declamation ensued, and moving recitals were made of the misery consequent on the bankruptcy of the house: many creditors had died of malinconia; maidens whose dowries had been lost, being unable to marry, had fallen to the streets; hospitals languished for their invested funds; houses had been sold up to meet the demands of the tax gatherers."
But how many creditors will die of malinconia, how many maidens, their dowries lost, will fall to the streets, how many houses will be sold up to meet the demands of the tax gatherers before the cent, as it were, drops — right through the floor?
