This chapter focuses on the evolution of papal finances during the sixteenth century, a period of radical change, which was characterized by seminal moments such as the creation of the Monte della Fede (public debt) in 1526, the imposition of the Triennial Subsidy (an attempt to charge a universal direct tax) of 1543, and others. It also looks at the consequences that these changes brought about in the seventeenth century. After a brief literature review, the transition between the medieval and the early modern period is also explained, followed by an analysis of the public debt and venal offices. The chapter then discusses the relations between central and peripheral powers and ends with an overview of the role played by merchant bankers.

Charles V famously declared that he spoke ‘Spanish with God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse’. Normally, however, a person would not be expected to be as well learned as the emperor was – or at least declared himself to be.

In the Prologue of the first of his Satires, Aulus Persius Flaccus emphasized that parrots and magpies learnt to speak because they were taught by their stomach, i.e. by hunger. In the same way travellers (merchants, pilgrims or others) were often driven to learn foreign languages solely by necessity. In most cases it was enough for them to understand or to be understood: as underlined by Braunmüller and Ferraresi, ‘Nobody would ever have expected to know other languages “perfectly” … the main point was to achieve effective communication e.g. at the workplace and not a “perfect” multilingualism in every respect’.

Introduction

Much has been written on colonies or ‘nations’ of Italian merchants abroad, on the way they settled, on their activities and on their privileges; but little space has been devoted to the problem of the knowledge of languages. A general feeling of solidarity was obviously connected with the linguistic identity; endogamy could clearly reinforce this identity and be – in turn – reinforced by it. Scholars of various disciplines have written about foreigners in terms of exclusion or inclusion/integration; cultural historians or sociologists have analysed the relation between language and identity or language and community.