The Medieval Super-Companies

The situation following the bankruptcy as reported is replete with anomaly and even contradiction. In the first place, we are told that the declaration of bankruptcy came as a stunning surprise to the Florentine community and to company insiders alike. Sapori firmly backs this version of events, citing Villani's dramatic exclamations of surprise and arguing that as a practicing merchant, former shareholder, and brother of a current shareholder, Villani would have been “in the know” if anyone was. He adds that the actions of the Peruzzi shareholders were atypical of the shrewd Florentine businessmen that they were – continuing to buy and sell property openly instead of taking steps to move their personal assets out of reach of their creditors and naively submitting the company's books to the commune instead of getting out of town.

Sapori's arguments are impressive but not really credible. Shock was indeed probable at the passing of this mighty institution, but not surprise, and certainly not to the shareholders who, as we have seen, were close to the business. Sapori claims that the myriad small transactions simply overwhelmed the bookkeeping system, rendering impossible a general accounting that would have produced a coherent statement of the condition of the company. It is true, as was made clear in Chapter 4, that the books had fallen into disarray, but the managing shareholders had every reason to realize that the company was in extreme difficulty. They were obviously aware that the business had paid only one tiny dividend since 1324 and that the 1331–5 company had made a loss, even though the accounts for that period had not been finalized.