The medieval super-companies

This book breaks new ground by focusing on the great Florentine "super-companies" of the early fourteenth century in their own right. The author closely examines the Peruzzi Company in particular, describing its ownership, family connections, scope of business, organization structure, accounting systems, and its history from 1300 to its dissolution in bankruptcy court in 1347. From this analysis, the author offers a radical reassessment of the nature and role of these extraordinary organizations. He establishes that although they engaged in all forms of commerce in substantial volume, what...