Rinaldo Ricasoli: a Florentine merchant in Flanders upon an unpublished document of the city of Bruges

Abstract

Abstract: The work presented here, starting from the study of an unpublished document preser-ved by the Ricasoli family, addresses aspects related to an event that took place within the context of the dense economic, social, and political network that in the 15th century saw the prominent Flo-rentine family of the Ricasoli, along with many others, play a key role. The Ricasoli family represented one of the commercial dynasties with strong economic ties to Flanders and the Netherlands. In the 15th century, Florentine merchants, representatives of wealthy families, with great foresight and an entrepreneurial strategy, opened branches and representative offices, especially in Bruges, which at the time was a crucial hub for economic exchanges between Italy and the rest of Europe. These entrepreneurs, involved in various types of exchanges, including textiles and luxury goods, had begun to create financial companies as early as the 14th century, which allowed them to transfer money securely and quickly between cities and also enabled them to grant substantial loans to fo-reign Royal families, placing Florentine merchant-bankers at the center of the European economic fabric. The document, written in Old French, was drafted in Bruges on May 27, 1490, and consists of the transcription of a previous act drawn up in Delft and dated February 2, 1488, which records a series of loans made to Maximilian of Austria by Rinaldo Ricasoli. This testimony is part of the story that, in the second half of the 15th century, led to the partition of the territories within the Duchy of Burgundy, within the context of the conflict between Maximilian of Austria, the regent on behalf of his son Philip, and King Charles VIII of France. To finance military operations against the rebels, Maximilian had relied on loans from Florentine bankers operating in Flanders. Among these, in particular, Rinaldo Ricasoli was probably in Bruges as a representative of the Tuscan economic and merchant society Cambi Da Rabatta.