Letras de cambio - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:53:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Letras de cambio - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 The functioning of a bill of exchange in the late Middle Ages https://historylab.es/the-functioning-of-a-bill-of-exchange-in-the-late-middle-ages/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-functioning-of-a-bill-of-exchange-in-the-late-middle-ages Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:36 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/el-funcionamiento-de-una-letra-de-cambio-a-finales-de-la-edad-media/ Economics. Bills of exchange as a form of agile financial lending in the Modern Age

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]]> In the late Middle Ages and early modern period, bills of exchange were one of the key elements for the transfer of capital between different European and Mediterranean territories. The main actors involved in the creation of bills of exchange depended on the distance of processing. If it was in the same territory or accessible to the interested parties and the amount was not important, the figures were 1) the drawee, who makes the payment and receives the bill; and 2) the drawee (debtor), who grants the bill and receives the payment that has to be returned to the drawee. If the circumstances required it, the participants could be increased with two more figures: 1) the beneficiary, who presents the bill of exchange and receives the payment; and 2) the drawer, in charge of signing the payment and receiving the bill of exchange. Both would act as intermediaries between the lender and the debtor. There could also be the figure of the guarantor who would be in charge of ensuring that the debt was paid in due time and form. In a historical example, dated 23 February 1481, a bill of exchange signed in Cagliari by Alfonso de Santángel and sent to Valencia to Joan de Santàngel, to pay 10 Valencian pounds to the merchant Joan Pasqual. The four parties involved in this bill of exchange are shown in the diagram below.

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